156 
PLEUROPNEUMONIA 
The Legislature at its last session, in a proviso to the Resolve allowing the 
sura of twenty thousand dollars to the use of the Commissioners, required them 
to make investigation and report upon the curability of the disease. 
No cases of the disease haviug come before the hoard the past year, they 
were of course unable to comply with the request, and can only refer, for infor¬ 
mation on this subject, to the report of last year, on the experiment made by 
the Commissioners during the years of 1864 and 1865. 
The uniform course of the present board has been to isolate all herds they 
have found affected with the disease, and such other cattle as had in any way 
been exposed to diseased herds, to kill such as they were satisfied had the disease 
to that exteut as to make them useless to the owner, and, in but few instances, 
only such. The result of our action contrasts favorably with that of Great 
Britain in the management heretofore of contagious diseases among cattle. 
In Great Britain, during the past two years, public attention has been 
diverted from pleuro-pneumonia to the more terrible disease, rinderpest. 
We here quote from Prof. McCall’s introductory lecture before the class of 
veterinary students, November 6th of the present year, at Glasgow, Scotland, 
to show that pleuro-pneumonia is still making its ravages among the cattle of 
that country :— 
“ For upwards of twenty years this country has annually lost thousands 
of cattle from one contagious disease alone, viz., pleuro-pneumonia, and at the 
present moment it is busy among our herds. One gentlemen present has lost 
twenty-two out of a herd of thirty five; and a few weeks ago I was consulted 
by a farmer who had lost twelve out of twenty, and now the disease has ap¬ 
peared among his young stock. The number of deaths in these instances is 
appalling, and the loss, directly and indirectly, cannot bo estimated at less than 
£900 or £1,000. 
“ The plague has drained the pockets of farmers and dairymen of thousands 
sterling; but thank Providence we are now free of the disease in this country. 
Pleuro-pneumonia has drained our pockets of millions of pounds, and she is still 
in our midst, the great enemy of our stock. ****** Use the means I 
have indicated, and the means which the plague has taught us to be of benefit 
in controlling contagious diseases, and if the contagious pleuro-pneumonia of 
cattle now decimating our stock is not thereby extinguished—‘stamped out’— 
its operations will be so curtailed, that the losses resulting to stockholders from 
the presence of the disease will sit lightly upon their shoulders. 
“Prof. Simonds, in his introductory address, delivered at the Veterinary 
College in London, in October, says: ‘From this time the disease called rinder¬ 
pest spread in all directions, the attacks gradually rising until they reached, in 
the week ending February 17th, 1866, the alarming number of 15,706. The first 
order in council was dated July 14th, 1865, aud from that period until now, 
order has succeeded order, with more or less influence in checking the progress 
of the malady, and providing for the altered state of things arising out of its 
existence. 
“‘The passage of the Cattle Plague Act was,however, the real cause of the 
diminution of the cases which has since taken place, and which emboldens ns 
to hope that ere long the disease will be entirely exterminated. For the first 
time in the history of the visitation the attacks were returned as under 100 for 
the week ending September 1st, 99 being the exact number reported by the 
inspectors.’ ***** He quotes ‘ from the official returns the amount of 
loss which England herself, apart from other parts of Great Britain, has sus¬ 
tained. The total attacks are returned as 198,406. Tile animals killed, (diseased,) 
amount to 77,508 ; those which died to 90,415; the recovered to 21,589; and the 
unaccounted for to 8,894. Besides which, no less than 38,356 have beeu slaught¬ 
ered healthy, to preveut the spread of the malady. These figures are truly 
formidable; but they fail to show a tithe part of the distress aud ruin which 
