Appendix
Note A.
Bremen, August 30.
The following report, drawn up by two German veterinary surgeons, of a recent visit to London to examine into the cattle murrain, has been furnished by the agent of the North German Lloyd’s at Nordenhamm:—
“On Wednesday, the 9th instant, we, the undersigned, were requested to be at Nordenhamm, if possible, the following morning. Upon our arrival we were asked by the agent of the North German Lloyd’s, who had consulted with several of the chief cattle exporters, to undertake a voyage to London at once in the steamer Schwan, in the interest of the cattle export from the Weser. The object of our mission was, first, to examine as closely as possible into the epidemic cattle disease raging in and around London for some time past; then carefully to observe the treatment of cattle upon the vessel during the voyage, upon arrival, and at the time of disembarkation; lastly, to use every means in our power to prevent obstacles being opposed to the continued export of cattle from these ports to England.
“Furnished by the agent of the North German Lloyd’s with letters of introduction to cattle dealers in London, and with the necessary funds, we left Nordenhamm in the steamer Schwan, Captain Christensen, at 4 P.M., on the 10th instant. The vessel carried 347 head of large cattle, 2 calves, and 260 sheep. Favoured by very fine weather, we arrived in the Thames at 2 P.M., on the 12th. At the beginning of the voyage the animals were rather uneasy, trampled a good deal, and caused considerable motion in the ship; after a time, however, they became quiet. A sharp, penetrating smell was easily perceptible in the ’tween decks of the ship, which was quickly removed upon a light breeze springing up, by means of the excellent ventilation and numerous air-pipes and wind shafts. The animals were several times watered, and it was easy to see how greatly they were refreshed. The hay in the racks, on the other hand, was hardly touched.
“Upon arriving in the port we were introduced by the captain to the two veterinary surgeons stationed here to inspect the cattle, and witnessed the rapid disembarkation of the cargo, all of which were thoroughly healthy, not one being condemned. The cattle, when landed, were immediately brought to carts standing in readiness and transported to London, where they are cleansed and then driven into the adjacent fields.
“After doing all in our power to attain the object of our journey, we went back to the port to wait for the Schwan, having first thoroughly cleansed the clothes we had worn during our inspection of the diseased cattle. The Schwan came in shortly after our arrival, and disembarked 256 head of large cattle, 12 calves and 400 sheep, all in good condition. Mr. Philipps, the London agent of the North German Lloyd’s, was on the spot, together with several reporters from newspapers, who wished to see by personal investigation how and in what condition cattle are brought from the Weser.
“We re-embarked on the Schwan upon the 19th. The crew were engaged during the voyage in carefully cleansing the ship. The weather was fine, and we arrived safely at Nordenhamm upon the 21st.
(Signed) “G. J. Rippen,
“Veterinary Surgeon at Seefield.
” H. Fasting,
“Veterinary Surgeon at Schwey.”
Professor Simonds having had such opportunities of investigating those diseases as they existed in England and in foreign countries as were possessed only by a few Englishmen, might be permitted to offer a few observations. He had been appointed by the Royal Agricultural Societies of England and Ireland to proceed to the Continent in 1857, when there was a rumour that the disease which existed among cattle in this country at the present time was prevailing in Mecklenburg. Consuls sent despatches that the rinderpest was prevailing largely, and the Government, as a precautionary measure, closed the ports against the introduction of cattle from the Baltic to this country. He found, however, from his observations abroad that since 1817 there had been no disease of this kind westward of a line between Revel in the Baltic and the Gulf of Venice, but to the eastward of that line it had existed. He came up with the affection at the Carpathian mountains, where it was raging in 1857 just as it is raging in England at the present time. Not only had it existed there, but it had been carried into the interior of Russia in the ordinary method of the cattle trade. A person who was in the habit of purchasing cattle attended a fair and bought a number of animals, and took them to his own farm, and in the course of ten days one or two were seized with the disease, and the result was there was a gradual spread of the evil in that district. It gained ground until the Government instituted the sanitary police regulations, which, though they were such as would be considered strange in England, were, he believed, absolutely necessary for the extirpation of the plague. It was undoubtedly true that no foreign animals had been seized at our ports or in the metropolitan market; but it was not necessary for the case they had in hand to say whether the disease was or was not of foreign importation. There was this fact before them, that it was not until the month of June that the disease appeared in England. A certain number of animals came out of a diseased district. He had documentary evidence that animals came from Revel and came from the district of Esthonia. He had before him proof that the disease now in England was raging in that district. They had proof that shortly after the arrival of those cattle in England the disease manifested itself here. He admitted there were difficulties in the way of checking the importation of foreign cattle. The Government had its eyes open to the matter, and he did not think it possible for the Government to have done more than they had done or to have done more quickly what they had been doing. At this moment half the supply of the metropolitan market came from foreign countries, and he did not wish to convey any reflection by saying that this disease had its origin from abroad. He would admit that the animals from Germany and Hungary were coming in a healthy condition; but he could not admit that they came from Russia, Poland, or Galicia in so perfect a condition, because the regulations there were not sufficient to stamp out the disease. The Government had made an inquiry as to the general health of cattle on the Continent. They believed France, Belgium, Holland, Schleswig-Holstein, Oldenburg, and a large part of the Continent that supplied cattle to this country were free from disease. This went to show that we had admitted a disease not from where we received our supplies of meat, but from some other district. Then it must be associated with the fact that it came into this country when animals arrived here from an infected district in Russia. Animals from Germany and Hungary were often shipped and mixed with others from a diseased district. As regarded the disease being spontaneous, we had been free from it for twenty years. What was the state of our cowsheds fifty years ago? Were they not in a more filthy condition than they are now? If, therefore, the disease had been induced from common causes it would have been here years and years ago. It was no reflection to say that a great many cases could be traced directly to the metropolitan market. Take one case which occurred in Sussex. Certain cattle had been bought in the metropolitan market and were taken home. In three or four days they were ill, and presented symptoms of this affection. In a few days more the cows and calves were dead. In another instance calves were bought in Chichester Market, where they had been taken from London. The result was the death of twelve cows and ten calves. The people had other cattle on the same farm, and not one of them took it. He could say, too, that persons who had only one animal had lost it by the disease. How had the disease got into Norfolk and Kent but by the animals which went from the metropolitan market? He could prove by documentary evidence that it was so. He could show there was not a single instance where the origin of the disease could not be traced to the metropolis. It was the most fearful visitation that had ever been seen in England. They had adopted a system of compensation in Norfolk, and if by this meeting something was done to shut out the animals of infected districts, no doubt the promoters would receive not only the thanks of London, but the country generally.
Mr. Gibbins—Now, if the disease came from abroad, and diseased cattle were shipped on the other side of the sea, no doubt the voyage would concentrate and aggravate the disease. The Government inspectors reported, however, that not one instance had been seen of foreign cattle so diseased, nor had any been seized and destroyed in London or anywhere else. Whether the disease came from abroad or elsewhere he was not able to state. Sir George Grey asked him whether he had found any disease among the foreign cattle that came into the market. He said not one. They had, no doubt, many instances of the disease amongst the cows that were ordinarily called milch cows, but that were not milch cows when they came to market, because one effect of the disease was to deprive the animal of milk. These were then sent to the market and sold as fat stock. He could only say they had had no cases, except in cows, whether they came from the dairies in London or elsewhere.
Note C.
M. Dembinski, Professor of Analytical Chemistry and Natural Science, had also addressed a communication to the Lord Mayor on the subject. The prevalent Rinderpest, he said, originated in the steppes of Podolia, from which considerable herds of cattle were exported through the steppes to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Riga, and Revel, and thence to the ports of Memel, Königsberg, Dantzic, Hamburg, Kiel, and the Hague. Deprived of congenial food and pure water on their transport through the steppes, and then arriving at marshy lands, the exhausted animals drank the stagnant water, which, during hot weather, exhaled a pestiferous malaria, and infected them with a predisposition to the epidemic in question, which developed itself into a kind of fever on the voyage to England in a crowded condition.
Note D.
International Veterinary Congress, Vienna,
August, 1865.
With regard to the cattle plague, it may be well to state that Austria has been most unfortunately situated, from the readiness with which Russian cattle have been admitted into the country at various parts of the western and southern frontiers. At the opening of the Congress this difficulty was particularly noted by the Ministerial counsellor, Dr. Vell, who attended on behalf of the Government, for the purpose of welcoming the assembly, and giving an assurance that its deliberations would meet with all the attention they deserved. He specially referred to the fact that the laws relating to cattle disease prevention had been entirely revised in 1850, but that the Steppe murrain continued to be introduced by smuggled stock into the western and southern provinces of the State. It was therefore necessary to attempt a more effectual control over the propagation of so disastrous a malady.
Herr Pabst welcomed the meeting on behalf of the Minister of Trade. He said that the value of the cattle of the Austrian dominions considerably exceeded one hundred million pounds sterling (one thousand million Austrian florins), and that cattle plagues completely put a stop to the development of that essential branch of agriculture which embraces the improvement and increase of live stock in a country. He assured the assembly that all would be done that was possible to improve the existing state of matters, and that he hoped they would greatly aid the Government by the discussions which would take place and the conclusions at which they would arrive.
I may state, by the way, that an opinion rather generally expressed by some, and stoutly maintained by others, was that the peculiar disposition of some of the Austrian subjects, and the feeling existing in Hungary against State measures, rendered the law, to a great extent, inoperative. I can, from personal experience, state that although stringent and most efficient means are used for the suppression of cattle plagues, and with the best results in Austria proper, there is great difficulty in carrying out the law in districts where Austrian rule is at a discount. Indeed this is clearly indicated by the manner in which the Rinderpest penetrates into Austria, where the laws are similar to those in the kingdom of Prussia, which is, and has long been, completely protected from invasions of the disorder.
At the meeting of the first International Congress, held in Hamburg in 1865, Dr. Röll stated that owing to the length of time to which the quarantine for Russian cattle extended on the Austrian frontier, herds of cattle were often smuggled through, and companies had been formed for the purpose of insurance against seizure by the authorities. The unlawful traffic was therefore carried on with comparative safety to the dealers, who cared not what misfortune they brought on a country if only their personal ends could be served. This question was the first to occupy the attention of the Congress last week; when a resolution was proposed to shorten the period of quarantine for cattle from Russia into any country from twenty-one days to ten. The discussion was keen. It was stipulated, however, that the quarantine should be carried out most strictly over all parts of the frontier, without respect to any breed of cattle or other circumstances which might be brought forward as exceptional reasons for retaining animals in quarantine. The committee appointed to prepare a succinct report on the subject included Professors Unterberger, Seifmann, Werner, Zlamal, Hertwig, Haubner, and Röll; and the committee decided in favour of the shortened quarantine, on the following conditions:—First—When the establishment of quarantine institutions is effected in accordance with the requirements of trade and the peculiarities of the frontier, special attention must be paid to the erection of quarantine stables, &c., where there are facilities for procuring an abundance of fodder and water. Second—The animals to be kept under efficient veterinary supervision wherever they have to submit to quarantine. The inspectors must be properly qualified veterinary surgeons. Third—The use of a brand to indicate that the animals have been in quarantine. Fourth—The effectual disinfection, by washing and otherwise, of animals as they leave the quarantine. Fifth—The introduction of a poll-tax along the eastern frontiers, and the appointment of proper veterinarians to be on the watch as to the health of cattle along the frontiers. Sixth—Careful supervision to be placed over the traffic in cattle wherever it takes place in a country. Seventh—The punishment to the full extent that the law allows of all who break the rules relating to quarantine or other means for the prevention of the cattle plague.
Professor Hertwig, of Berlin, whose opinion is always listened to with great respect in veterinary circles, stated his reasons for adopting these resolutions now, whereas in 1863 he was against shortening the period of quarantine. He referred chiefly to the importance of not offering temptations for cattle dealers to evade the law by insisting on unreasonable restrictions. The feeling of the assembly was greatly in favour of avoiding vexatious and expensive measures, which might greatly interfere with the employment of capital in cattle traffic. A small number of professors, not exceeding eight or nine, held out for a quarantine of twenty-one days.
It may be as well to state that quarantine regulations, which have been regarded as almost useless in the prevention of human disorders, from the great difficulties in the way of carrying them out efficiently, are recognised as of great value in controlling the propagation of cattle plagues. It is possible to control the movement of herds, and the governments of Central Europe have found it absolutely essential so to do. Indeed, the ablest medical men who have written against the adoption of a quarantine system for human small-pox and cholera, such as Professor Siegmund, of Berlin, acknowledge its value and absolute requirement with regard to the Rinderpest. A professor from Galicia argued in favour of controlling the movements of people wherever the disease appeared, and no fact seems to have been better ascertained than that of the communication of the Rinderpest from herd to herd by human beings. Professor Jessen, of Dorpat, states that in Russia the malady was at one time speedily propagated by the people, who regarded the destruction of their stock as a visitation of Providence, and who summoned a priest into their stables to pray with them that the plague might be stayed. Moving from farm to farm, the malady was by this means rapidly transmitted. In Hungary, many outbreaks result from people dressing the carcases and hawking about the meat, which, even where human beings remain uninjured, is deadly to the cattle whenever the water with which it is washed is thrown about the yards, or the meat is hung up near sheds containing living animals.
The members present at the International Congress spoke in favour of establishing a fund, apart from the Government grants, for the payment of diseased or infected animals which have to be slaughtered with a view to the prevention of the plague. Special precautions were suggested as to the transmission of articles the product of diseased animals.
1. Perfectly dried skins, the points of horns cut off, as they often are for commercial purposes, the salted and dried intestines of cattle, melted tallow, wools, cowhair, &c., could be freely allowed to pass unobserved.
2. Entire horns, hoofs, &c., which are detached from the soft parts, but which often contain adhering flesh, &c., should be disinfected with chloride of lime.
3. As melted tallow is often conveyed in bags which may be charged with the poison, those bags should be washed with chloride of lime solution.
4. Fresh bones, fresh skins, and intestines, unmelted tallow, raw flesh, and fresh sheepskins, should not be sold whenever the Rinderpest exists in a district.
According to all the accounts which reach us, the foreign observations and resolutions may be of essential service in England. The members of the Assembly were informed by Mr. Erner of the origin and the progress of the cattle plague in England, and were deeply interested by the account given of the imminent danger in which many countries are placed that purchase breeding stock in the British isles. The theories of spontaneous origin amuse the learned here not a little, as they justly think we ought not to be so far behind every nation in the possession of knowledge regarding the propagation of such a disorder as the steppe murrain.
Note E.
Now, if the disease came from abroad, and diseased cattle were shipped on the other side of the sea, no doubt the voyage would concentrate and aggravate the disease. Whether the disease came from abroad or elsewhere he was not able to state. Sir George Grey asked him whether he had found any disease among the foreign cattle that came into the market. He had not one. He could only say they had had no cases, except in cows, whether they came from the dairies in London or elsewhere. So far as they knew, not one single bullock or ox had been condemned.—Mr. Gibbins, 18th August, Meeting at the Mansion House.
The very first shed in which the plague must have appeared in London is a pattern of cleanliness, and the stock was magnificent, as proved by the animals in a shed to which the disease has not been propagated. Almost simultaneously the malady broke out in the Essex marshes, and in every instance we trace a more or less direct contamination by foreign stock.
Vienna, August, 1865.
On the 28th of August about thirty of the members of the Congress accepted an invitation to visit the renowned agricultural establishment at Altenburg, in Hungary. After the visitors had inspected the herds and other appurtenances of this institution, Professor Maasch, its director, intimated that the Rinderpest had appeared at Nickolsdorf, about four German miles from Altenburg. The President of the Congress had known this fact before the party left Vienna for Hungary; but as he feared some enthusiasts would first see the plague, and then inspect the Altenburg herds, he preferred to adopt the stratagem of communicating the information through Professor Maasch, after the great Agricultural College of Hungary had been viewed. Nickolsdorf, where the steppe murrain appeared on the 10th of August, is an exquisitely clean village, with well-whitewashed buildings and broad roads, constituting the centre of a thriving agricultural district. Its people are typical Hungarians, not too anxious to work, and, on the whole, poor; but they are intelligent, notwithstanding the national proclivity to farm a thousand acres badly rather than one-fourth the quantity to perfection. Their wants are not great, and their worldly luxuries, beyond potatoes and schnaps, are bought with the profits made on large herds of cattle. One herd only had suffered from the cattle plague when we visited the village. This herd consisted of 1225 animals, divided into three lots. The affected portion numbered 450 animals—bullocks intended for work and slaughter—varying in age from three to seven years. The cows and heifers had not been smitten. The 450 animals amongst which the disease appeared were housed in no less than sixteen different sheds in Nickolsdorf. Out of each of these places sick animals had been taken, and either slaughtered or permitted to die. We killed four for dissection on the 29th. Six more had been previously killed, their hides slacked, and the entire body buried; nine had died, and two we left in life to be soon slaughtered and disposed of as the others. The district veterinary surgeon in constant attendance was an extremely active and intelligent man, who recognised the disease on its first outbreak, and adopted such measures for separation, destruction, and burial, as prevented the disease from spreading so rapidly as it has in England.
The cause of the outbreak was the intermingling of cattle-dealers’ stock with the Nickolsdorf herd; and although the animals which carried it have not been fully traced, they are believed to have been owned by a butcher who had purchased them in Comorn, where the malady is raging. Singular variations have been seen in the symptoms exhibited, especially when animals are first affected. During the Nickolsdorf outbreak there has been an invariable incubation of five or six days; then furor or delirium appears: the bullocks stare, roar, stamp with their feet, are prepared to attack people who approach them, and seem to be dizzy at intervals. They shiver, their muscles twitch, the eyes soon begin to discharge, and the mucus which flows from the mouth foams. The pulse is at first slower than usual, until all the fever symptoms appear. There is more constipation than diarrhœa, though, on examination, the mucous membranes are all found to be affected precisely in the manner so often observed in England during the present outbreak. The differences in the symptoms are accounted for by peculiarities of breed, the condition of stalls, the food the animals have lived on, and similar circumstances. We may hear more of these Hungarian outbreaks, but the chances are we shall not witness in any part of Austria the wholesale devastation now going on in Great Britain.—International Veterinary Congress.
At present the cowkeepers send off the infected beasts to the market, or to some slaughter-house, where they might be killed. There was believed to be great danger in allowing the infected cows to be driven through the streets. If the good could be separated from the bad animals, and if the latter could be conveyed to sanitoriums, where the medical men could operate upon them, then much benefit would result; and then, too, if the animals died, they would be buried on the spot. All the professors were agreed in this, that if a compensation fund were raised, and the cowkeeper were told that he would be remunerated for his loss, he would at once inform the authorities when the disease made its appearance in his cowshed. Shed after shed was being now shut up, and men and women who seemed to be affluent one day were the next reduced to ruin. An illustration of this would suffice. One day last week a cowkeeper at Pimlico had 70 or 80 healthy cows. On Wednesday three of them were found dead. On Thursday 42 of them were sent to the market. Of these 42 three showed symptoms of the disease, and then the whole of the 42 beasts had to be slaughtered because of the disease being among the three. The poor fellow was thus ruined. Last Monday he sent nine more cows to the market, and these also had to be slaughtered. At present the man was absolutely out of his mind. Out of his 70 beasts, he had not one left. Some persons were saying that the disease arose from bad water, bad ventilation, and bad cowsheds; but in the case of Miss Burdett Coutts, who had had 40 head of cattle, which were most carefully housed and attended to—particularly from the moment she heard that the disease was amongst them—all were gone, with the exception of one cow; so that, whether it was a want of water or a want of ventilation which in other cases caused it, this was an instance in which everything was done that could be done, and yet the plague raged and the mortality ensued.—Mr. Gibbins, Meeting at the Mansion House.
Note J.
Yesterday morning Dr. Jarvis, medical officer of St. Matthew’s, Bethnal-green, received information that Mr. Castell, an extensive purveyor of milk, had lost eighty-four cows during the past week. Other cowkeepers in this district have also experienced great losses. The disease has manifested itself with more or less virulence at St. Anne’s, Limehouse; St. John, Hackney: St. Mary-le-Bow, St. George’s-in-the-East, St. John, Wapping; Christ Church, Spitalfields; St. Leonard’s, Shoreditch; St. Mary, Whitechapel; St. Paul’s, Shadwell; the hamlet of Ratcliff, Stoke Newington, Kingsland, and Tottenham.
Mr. Gibbins, chairman of the Metropolitan Markets Committee, Mr. Rudkin, a member of the committee, Mr. Tegg, veterinary surgeon to the market, and Mr. Baldry, clerk to the market, applied to the sitting magistrate at Clerkenwell Police Court yesterday for summonses against cowkeepers for sending diseased cows into the market. During the course of the present week no less than nineteen cows had been seized in the market and fairs and condemned. The order was asked for under the 8th section of the recent Order in Council, which recited that it shall not be lawful to send or bring to any fair or market, or to send or carry by any railway, or by any ship or vessel coastwise, or to place upon or to drive along any highway, or the sides thereof, any animal labouring under disease. The cattle seized had not been examined by a Government inspector, and no certificate had been given to the owners that they were fit to be removed. The market authorities wished it to be known that proceedings would be taken in every case that was brought under their notice. Mr. Cooke observed that the inspectors had power to seize and slaughter, or cause to be slaughtered, and to be buried in any convenient place, any animal labouring under the disease. Had that been done? Mr. Tegg said that the animals were in some of the cases slaughtered, and the others would be slaughtered in the course of the day. The summonses were granted.
Yesterday, the summonses issued at the instance of Mr. Frederick Thomas Stanley, a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, and one of the inspectors appointed under the Order in Council, came on for hearing before Mr. Burcham, magistrate at the Southwark police court. The summons in the first case was addressed to Thomas Meredith, of the Flying Horse-yard, Blackman-street, for that the defendant, without the licence of the said inspector, did unlawfully remove from his premises some animals labouring under the cattle disease. Mr. Sleigh, instructed by Mr. Gant, appeared to support the summons; and Mr. W. Edwin for the defendant. Evidence was given that the defendant had been warned that the cows were diseased, but that he had removed them notwithstanding. The further hearing of the case was adjourned, as were also the other summonses of a like nature.
In pursuance of powers vested in him by the Manx Legislature, the governor of the Isle of Man has issued a proclamation prohibiting the importation of cattle into the island. Tinder the same Act his Excellency has power to subject all cattle imported into the island to a five days’ quarantine.
Tracing, as we have done, the sale of infected stock from abroad as far back as the 19th of June, we find that each week that the disease has been amongst us a fresh county has been contaminated; and more than that when we consider that Scotland has not escaped.
Note L.
Scotland.—The cattle plague has travelled North to Aberdeenshire, and has killed a number of animals almost simultaneously on three farms at many miles distance from one another. The owners of stock in one of the districts, and the Royal Northern Agricultural Association, are taking, or resolving to take, sharp and prompt steps to stay the progress of the disease. The committee of the association having met on Friday, appointed a committee of inspection, arranged for a public meeting of persons interested, and favourably entertained the notion of forming a fund for mutual insurance against the sacrifices and losses which the extension of the disease might occasion. A meeting of the General Central Union was also held at Stirling on Friday, and a committee was appointed to confer on the subject with the directors of the Highland Society, and report to another meeting to be held next Friday.—Scotsman.
The most important communication received to-day is from Scotland. The malady has undoubtedly broken out near Kelso, on fourteen head of cattle imported into London and sent north. Twenty-eight animals have been seized with the disease at Woolwich, and calves from the London market are said to have taken the malady down to Horsham and Grinstead.
Information has been received concerning the sale of at least fifty-four diseased and infected animals in the Metropolitan Cattle Market the 3rd instant.
Mr. Charles Panter has, at the request of Earl Granville, drawn up a statement relative to the health of the cows on a farm hired by his lordship at Golder’s-green, on the Finchley-road. In publishing the statement, Earl Granville says: “When I left England, a month ago, there were about 130 milch cows in four sheds. In the two largest and best managed I found only one cow yesterday (Sept. 4). His Royal Highness the Duke of Coburg informed me last week that what he believed to be the same disease visited Coburg last year. No one could trace its origin, and no medical treatment was successful. Air and water were their only remedies. Some men had died from eating the meat killed at a particular stage of the disease. His Royal Highness had seen a horse die in four hours, killed by flies which came from the carcase of a cow which had been allowed to remain above ground. The disease disappeared in the autumn as mysteriously as it had come. I understand that Professor Simonds is of opinion that the disease mentioned by the Duke of Coburg is not the same as that from which we are suffering here—that its name is the Siberian Pest.” Mr. Panter’s statement is dated Sept. 4, and is as follows:—“On the 13th of July I purchased five Dutch cows in the Metropolitan Market, and placed them in quarantine at Child’s-hill Farm, one mile from here. On the 22nd of July one of them showed signs of debility; diarrhœa followed. Thinking it was only a cold, she was treated accordingly, but continued to get worse, and died in five days. Two more were attacked in a similar way, when veterinary advice was called in, but in five days the whole either died or were slaughtered. Every precaution was used to prevent the spread of infection here; the men who attended the sick cattle were not allowed to go among the healthy ones, and vice versâ. But, previous to this, bearing of the disease in the London cowsheds, I adopted precautionary measures, such as a liberal use daily of chloride of lime, administered one ounce of nitre in half a pint of water to each cow, and a small quantity of tar, and painted their noses with tar. But on the 8th of August, unfortunately, the disease showed itself here in a fat cow that had been for ten months in the best built, best drained and ventilated shed. No new stock had been added for nine weeks. In a few hours four more cows showed symptoms of it. I immediately had them all removed and slaughtered, and made a post-mortem examination of them, and found the windpipe in a state of decomposition, the lungs inflated, the small intestines red and inflamed, and the meat of a dark yellow colour outside, and dark red inside, which I think unfit for human food after the first stage. The disease confined itself to the above shed of forty-eight cows (which are now all gone) till the 20th of August, when it broke out in another shed of thirty-five cows, some ten yards from the former one, and continued its ravages, taking from two to four cows daily, till they are all gone but two, one of which has not been attacked; the other, which was a bad case, is cured, and partly come to her milk again. On the first symptoms I had her separated from the other stock, and did not treat her for two days, when diarrhœa set in; I then gave her a bottle of brandy and four ounces of ground ginger in three quarts of old ale. She lay in a kind of stupor for twelve hours, when I could see a change in her for the better. I continued to give her daily four quarts of gruel made with old ale and two ounces of ginger. In four days she was sufficiently recovered to eat a little hay, &c., and do without further treatment. In another case the above treatment failed, and the animal died in three days. In other cases I allowed anyone to treat them who thought they had a remedy, both professional men and others. One persevering young veterinary surgeon came up out of Somersetshire and treated two cases most energetically, but failed in both; one died in four, and the other in eight days. In other cases tonics, stimulants, blisters, and setons have been tried, but all failed. The whole of the eighty-one cows lost were of the English breed; we have not as yet had any loss out of the other two sheds, consisting of about half English and half Dutch cows, and standing about forty yards from the infected shed. It may be interesting for your lordship to know that I had the shed at Child’s-hill Farm immediately cleansed with disinfectants, and washed with hot lime, &c., and bought twelve fresh cows and placed them there on the 16th, which are now in perfect health; and a neighbour situated midway between here and that farm had twenty-three cows lying in a field; the plague took twenty of them, and in three weeks he replaced them with new stock, which are still healthy, he having had them a month. Another neighbour, a mile distant, had a fine herd of seventy-two cows (English) lying in the fields a fortnight ago. The plague broke out among them, and now he has only eight left in health. From my own experience, and from all I can learn, I believe the disease is atmospheric, and of a typhoid character. The first symptom in a milking cow is an almost entire loss of milk, then loss of appetite, a watery discharge from the eyes, nostrils, and mouth, which thickens as the disease develops itself; rumination ceases, her ears hang down, her eyes are heavy and sunken, bloody matter is seen in the excrement, great debility is seen, diarrhœa sets in, and death takes place in from three to nine days. I have read of iron water being a preventive of the disease. All the water your cows have drunk comes six miles through rusty iron pipes.”
The Cattle Murrain at Holly Lodge.—On the 27th of June an Alderney bull was purchased at Bushey, near Watford, and placed with the rest of the herd, then consisting of eleven cows, five sucking calves, three yearling heifers, and one bull. The bull had been imported from Alderney for several months. About a month after—namely, on the 29th of July—a cow in calf was attacked with unusual symptoms. She was separated from the rest; nourishing drinks were administered; but having calved, she died forty-eight hours after the first symptoms were observed. This led to the belief that she died of the disease which then began to prevail. This cow had been pastured with the others in a field occasionally used for grazing sheep that were taken to the Metropolitan Cattle-market, and, if not sold, brought back again until the next market day; the sheep were separated from the cows by iron hurdles. The Holly Lodge Estate is partly bounded on the east by the route taken by drovers with foreign and other cattle to and from the market, some of which are also occasionally brought back to neighbouring fields. The high road forms the western boundary within a few yards of the cattle-sheds and pastures. These facts are stated to show that the contagion might have been easily communicated to the animals. A few days later three calves were attacked with cold shivering and twitching of the muscles. The previous nights having become suddenly and unusually cold and wet, the symptoms were at first attributed to that cause. Although these calves had been pastured quite apart from the cow which first died, the cow had been driven across the field where the calves lay to the shed in which it died, the calves having been placed in the next shed, where two of them died on the 6th of August, unmistakeably of the cattle plague. The third calf was sent to the Royal Veterinary College, where it also died. By the 9th of August four cows and the bull were seized with the disease so virulently that it was thought necessary to kill them after three days’ illness. On the 12th a cow and a heifer were also destroyed, and on the 14th one of the sucking calves died. Thus, out of a herd of nineteen animals, twelve had died within a fortnight. The malady had taken so strong and sudden a hold upon them that no systematic means of remedy could be applied except separation, warmth, stimulants, and the medicines ordinarily given in cases of cold and fever. On the 13th of August two more cows were pronounced incurable by two of the veterinary surgeons who had been called in; but it was determined, upon further advice, to try a mode of treatment upon them not hitherto adopted. One drachm of calomel was administered in gruel, four hours afterwards one pint of castor oil, and three hours later one quart of yeast. About two quarts of warm porter were added to a gruel of yeast and oatmeal, and given at intervals. These remedies acted most efficiently, and in one case gave much encouragement. The next day the cow began to eat hay, to chew her cud, and to yield a good quantity of milk. These remedies, together with bi-sulphate of soda, which invariably produced a return of the milk, and quinine, were then tried upon four other patients, with varied success. But in the end all these cows died, not, it is believed, of the cattle murrain, but of exhaustion occasioned by the activity of the drugs administered to them. This belief was strengthened by the healthy appearance presented by the viscera of the first cow thus experimented upon, on its being partially dissected after death. The remaining cow thus treated is still alive. It is impossible to avoid believing that had the medical man who kindly gave his attention to these animals, been better acquainted with the constitution of the creature, or had those who tended them had any knowledge of medicine, three of the cows treated in this manner might and probably would have recovered; and even when the animals succumbed the consequences were less serious, the virulence of the poison being expelled—at least it was undiscernible to those who dissected them. During the fortnight that the murrain was raging, one cow in calf and one calf remained perfectly healthy, apparently, until both were seized within a day of each other; these had always been kept separate from the sick animals, and tended by other men. The calf died, and the cow was destroyed, in consequence of the symptoms being so violent. In this case very little calomel was given. As it may be as well to mention all particulars, it may be stated here that the men who tended the animals were provided with a dress, and that it was found desirable that a certain quantity of stimulants—brandy, coffee, and strong soup—should be given to prevent nausea and other uncomfortable feelings from which the men suffered. All the directions respecting the burying of the animals issued by the Privy Council have been strictly complied with; clothes, &c., have been burnt, chloride of lime (Macdougall’s disinfectant) was used with others to destroy insects and flies, with abundance of white-washing. The men were recommended to use, as a wash for the mouth, manganate of potash. The first crop of grass in the field where the cattle lay before their sickness, and during it, has been destroyed also; and it is intended to use some disinfectant, such as charcoal or lime, to spread over the field. Miss B. C. feels so persuaded that some mode of treatment could be found to alleviate, if not to save life, that she has determined to employ a medical gentleman, who kindly offers his services, and to take also the advice of a good cow or veterinary surgeon, and to try the effects of various remedies in some of the cowsheds where persons will be glad to let such experiments be tried; and it is also her intention to ask the Privy Council to allow one of the Government Inspectors to assist and report upon the cases. It may not be altogether unimportant to add that the state of the atmosphere seemed to have some effect upon the health of the animals, as upon those occasions the symptoms were most severe during the thunder-storms which then occurred. The milk which returned was found to be rather watery, and the cream had a peculiar appearance. At first the pigs declined it, and it was not thought advisable to continue to give it at all to any animals for about a week. It is now perfectly good.
Advices from Holland, dated the Hague, Sept. 6, state: “The cattle disease has now been observed in the parishes of Kethel, Delfshaven, Moordrecht, Uaardingen, Averschie, Kvalingen, Nieuwerkerk on the Issel (two hours from Rotterdam), Spykenisse, Schiedam, Herrjansdam, Maasland, Sommelsdyk, and Zevenhuisen. It has spread most at Kethel, where it first broke out among a cargo of cattle not admitted into England. In the other parishes some sixty animals were infected on the 1st inst. The post-mortem examination of the diseased beasts presents the abnormal appearances that have been found in the disease elsewhere, i.e., swollen mucous membranes with red spots, peculiar exudations in the fourth stomach and intestines, &c. The medical commission declares the malady to be the typhus contagiosus bovum of modern veterinary surgery, and recommends that infected animals should be treated with from three to four drachms of muriatic acid, mixed with six ounces of treacle and decoction of linseed. Decoctions of Peruvian bark and osier peelings, with sulphuric ether, are also said to be beneficial to weak animals. The avoidance of all contact of the cattle-tenders with infected beasts is especially enjoined, and ventilation and cleanliness of the stalls strongly recommended. Cattle markets and fairs are suspended until further orders, and extraordinary measures for disinfection are applied upon steamboats and railways.”
Note P.
The following document has been received at the Foreign Office from her Majesty’s Agent and Consul-General at Bucharest:—
(Translation from the Official “Monitoral,” No. 173, August 8-20, 1865.)
General Direction of the Sanitary Service.
From the 1st to the 15th July a typhus epizooty broke out among the large horned cattle in the districts of Ilfov, Jassy, Bolgrad, Falcin, Buzeo, and Roman, which still continues, but is on the decrease. The Direction, in consequence, publishes the above for the information of those concerned.
The Director-General,
(Signed) D. Gluch.
Aug. 2-14, 1865.
August 14.
The Question of Infection.—Yesterday afternoon Mr. Alfred Ebsworth, of 11, Trinity-street, Southwark, the medical officer of health for the parish of St. Mary, Newington, attended before the sitting magistrate to make a statement with regard to the condition of the parish from the influx of diseased cattle, and the manner in which they were disposed of. Addressing the magistrate (Mr. Burnham) Mr. Ebsworth said that on that morning he, in his capacity of medical officer of health for the parish of St. Mary, Newington, received an order to attend professionally a man who was seriously ill in Kent-street, within the parish. While paying the visit to the patient his attention had been drawn to the condition of a slaughter-house on the other side of the street, where it was reported to him there were fifteen cows which had been ordered by the Government officer to be destroyed at the Bricklayers’ Arms Station, and then to be buried. The animals were accordingly destroyed by the men in the employ of Mr. George Nicholls, the proprietor of the yard in question; and from Mr. Nicholls he had learned that, instead of the carcases of the animals being buried, they were carted through the parish of St. George’s to Mitcham, where they were boiled down, and brought back through the parish of St. Mary, Newington, in the shape of cats’-meat. He (Mr. Ebsworth) felt it his duty to come before the magistrate with this complaint, especially when the cattle plague was so prevalent. He had a right to inquire upon what grounds the carcases had not been disposed of on the spot where they had been slaughtered, instead of being carted through the parish he represented, in a way calculated to spread the infection. He could not but regard this as a most iniquitous proceeding, and he attended with a view to prevent a repetition of the practice. Mr. Frederick T. Stanley presented himself, and said that he was a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. He had been appointed an inspector of cattle under the orders issued by the Privy Council. Within the district there were no means of burying the carcases of the diseased and condemned animals, and in the instance referred to they could not have been buried in the cowshed. It was impossible to bury the carcases in the London districts, and hence they were sent to the knacker’s yard, where it was supposed they would be disposed of. Mr. Ebsworth: And that, your worship, is what I complain of. Mr. Burcham: You think that the practice to which you have called my attention is calculated to propagate the extension of the disease. Mr. Stanley declared that the skins were disinfected under his especial orders. Mr. Burcham remarked that the animals had been taken to the slaughter-house, not for the purpose of being killed and buried, but that their skins should be taken off and disinfected. Why should they have been taken to Mitcham? Mr. Stanley stated that the disease could not be communicated from a dead animal, and it was conveyed only by inoculation, or through the breath of a living animal upon the dead body of a diseased ox. Mr. Burcham: I do not agree with you in that opinion. I believe that infection may be conveyed by a dead animal. Mr. Ebsworth said that such was his opinion, and, having regard to 28,000 patients in the parish, he had felt it his bounden duty to come forward to make this complaint. He thought such things ought not to occur. Mr. Burcham was of the same opinion, and that such a commodity ought not to be allowed to be conveyed through the public streets in open carts. Just before the magistrate was about to rise, Mr. Stanley introduced to his worship Professor Simonds, and a long colloquy (in private) ensued between them. At its close Professor Simonds retired, and Mr. Burcham said: I wish to state that I wanted to be satisfied that everything was done by Mr. Stanley that could be done under the circumstances by which he was surrounded, in the midst of great difficulty. I have had an interview with Professor Simonds, and he informs me that there are the greatest difficulties, if not impossibilities, in finding any places near London in which the dead carcases of diseased animals can be buried. In the case now before me these animals were slaughtered at the Bricklayers’ Arms Station, and were then taken to the slaughter-house in Kent-street, under the notion that the owner of the slaughter-house had the means of boiling them down. It appears that he had no such apparatus, and hence he found it necessary to send the carcases to Mitcham, the nearest place at which he believed the carcases could be buried and disposed of, and the neighbourhood thereby disinfected. Professor Simonds is perfectly sure that this meat when boiled down cannot by any probability cause the infection to spread. It was possible, but not probable, that infection might be introduced by the carcases of the diseased animals on their way to the place where they had to be boiled down; but it appears to me, from what I have just heard, that every precaution has been taken to prevent such an occurrence. It seems that the authorities cannot find a place within a reasonable distance in which the carcases can be buried, and, therefore, they are obliged to have recourse to boiling them down, as the only alternative. It is right that I should add that the conduct of Mr. Stanley, the inspector, has been quite in conformity with the directions he has received, not only under the Orders in Council, but also sanctioned in my presence to-day by Professor Simonds. I trust that this statement will remove from the mind of Mr. Stanley any unfavourable impression he may have entertained; and I will only add my opinion, that the diseased cattle ought to be removed through these populous districts in closed and not in open carts. The conversation then closed, and at an unusually late hour the court adjourned.
Diseased Meat.—At the Thames Police Court yesterday Henry Frost, an old man, was charged with having allowed to be deposited on the premises occupied by him in the rear of the house, No. 13, Sidney-street, Stepney, four quarters of beef prepared for sale and intended for the food of man, but which was unfit for human food. Frost carried on the business of a greengrocer. He asserted that he let the place to other men, who were the actual offenders. It was intimated that the vestry had no disposition to press for a heavy penalty. Mr. Paget fined the prisoner 40s. At Clerkenwell, Mr. Tegg, inspector at the Metropolitan Cattle Market for the City authorities applied to Mr. D’Eyncourt for an order to destroy a quantity of diseased meat which he purposed seizing. Mr. D’Eyncourt said the meat must be actually seized and condemned upon evidence before he could make the order. In the matter of the seizure of 32 quarters of beef, weighing about 3000 lbs., which was found on the premises of a knacker in Pleasant-grove, Belle-isle, Mr. D’Eyncourt dismissed an application made against the defendant under the Nuisances Removal Act. The defence set up was that the meat was recognised as bad and diseased by the killer as soon as the animals were slaughtered.
Note S.
The Orders in Council seemed only to complicate the matter, and how effectually to combat the evil was a most difficult question. Some said the grand remedy was the knife, and others suggested that the diseased animals should be sent to a sanatorium. To destroy the diseased cattle was impossible, except the owner of them or the inspector went round and obtained an order from a magistrate for their destruction. The last meeting was adjourned, among other purposes, in order that the committee might take the opinion of the law officers upon the subject. It so happened, however, that most of the law officers of the Corporation were at present out of town. Fortunately the Common Serjeant was found, and he gave an opinion which confirmed the committee in their view that they had no power to kill, and no power to do anything except in the matter of isolation. Then the committee passed a resolution that another committee ought to be formed to raise the necessary funds for compensating the cattle-owners, and to see that those funds were properly applied, for the money was only intended to apply to the cattle plague, and was not meant to go in the shape of compensation for pleuro-pneumonia, or for the foot diseases. In other words, they were now legislating for the cattle plague or Rinderpest only. He resided at Dulwich, and he found that in the villages adjoining there were many cows, and never in his life had he seen finer cows. Not one of them had been affected by the disease. There was a cowkeeper at Peckham who had 200 cows, and all of them were in the most healthy state. At Brixton Hill a man had 30 cows in the same excellent condition. At Dulwich nearly all the cows were diseased, but there the shed and other accommodation was exceedingly bad. In parts of Peckham Rye some of the cowkeepers had lost their cattle, but there again the places were badly ventilated, and the cows were badly cared for. He believed that the disease might be prevented by the use of proper precautions on the part of those who had the greatest interest in keeping their cows in a healthy state. He believed, too, that this question affected the whole of the metropolitan district quite as much as it did the City itself. There were no fewer than 106 head of diseased cattle lately seized; but, as he said before, they could not be killed without an order from a magistrate, and a magistrate would naturally feel a difficulty in issuing an order to kill so many as 106 head. It was necessary, under such circumstances, that a deputation should wait upon the Home Secretary and ask him to provide a remedy, and tell the authorities what they were to do at such a crisis. If, as it now appeared, the inspectors and the markets’ committee had been slaughtering beasts without authority, who was to pay the costs should proceedings against them be commenced? Professor Simonds seemed to think that next session a bill of indemnity would be introduced, and certainly something of this kind was rendered necessary, for cattle were now coming here which were consigned to A., B., and C., and then the owners could not be found, and without the consent of the owners the diseased beasts could not be killed. The next subject in the report had reference to slaughter-houses. As there were no places at present to which cattle in an incipient stage of the disease could be removed from the sheds in which they were placed along with untainted cattle, it was now proposed that slaughter-houses should be established in London for their reception. Then came the question, how were the beasts to be removed from the sheds to the slaughter-houses? It was the opinion of many that they ought to be removed in vans, and not driven through the streets; but, however that might be, slaughter-houses should be erected in the metropolis where the tainted animals might be killed. Then came the question, how was an animal to be dealt with when first stricken with the disease? It was suggested that hospitals or sanatoriums should be provided, to which the beasts should be sent. But this was a matter of great importance, to which the attention of the committee to be appointed and that of the medical men would have to be directed. If the plague went on it would affect all classes, rich and poor alike, and instead of meat being as now at a reasonable rate, it would go up 4d. or 6d. per pound; but he had hopes that the disease might be checked, particularly as Professors Simonds and Gamgee had been more successful in the treatment of it than they had previously been.
Note T.
August 31.
Deputation to the Home Office.—Yesterday afternoon the Lord Mayor proceeded from the Mansion House to the Home Office, and had an interview with Mr. Waddington on the subject of the cattle plague, and the desirability of establishing hospitals or sanatoriums within the metropolitan districts for the reception and medical treatment of diseased cattle. His lordship was accompanied on the occasion by the following deputation from the Markets and Cattle Plague Committees:—Mr. Gibbins (Chairman of the Markets Committee), Mr. Webber, Mr. Gower, Mr. Brewster, Mr. Rudkin, and Dr. Jarvis (the Medical Officer of Health for Bethnal-green). Sir George Grey having left London for Falloden.
The Lord Mayor introduced the deputation to Mr. Waddington, and in doing so, said that their object was to obtain the sanction of Government to the establishment of hospitals or sanatoriums within the metropolitan districts, to which diseased cattle could be conveyed from the cowsheds in order that they might there receive medical treatment, and be, if possible, restored to health. He observed that similar establishments had been formed at Edinburgh and other large towns, and that they had been found to work most satisfactorily, not only in separating the diseased cattle from those which were non-diseased, but in affording facilities to the medical profession to exercise their skill and knowledge under circumstances more favourable to a fair trial of both than they could expect to find in crowded cowsheds, many of which were in a filthy condition and badly ventilated. He pointed out the progress the plague had made, and was still making, in the metropolis, and how its effects upon the high price of meat and milk were affecting all classes of the community. The difficulties, he said, of adequately meeting the necessities of the case were at present very great, and some of these consisted in the alleged illegality of slaughtering diseased animals without an order from a magistrate, and also the illegality of removing those diseased from the cowsheds to the hospitals, supposing the latter to exist. But he hoped the Government, who had no doubt well considered a subject of such vast importance, would speedily do away with those difficulties, and render the fullest aid to the Markets’ Committee and Metropolitan Cattle Plague Committee, who were unceasingly devoting their time and attention to mitigate, and, if possible, put an end to the evil. At present, however, the object of the deputation was limited to that of obtaining the sanction of the Government to the establishment of the hospitals or sanatoriums. This was an object which had not only received the general approval of the two committees mentioned, but also of the medical profession, and he might add, what it was by no means unimportant to bear in mind, that the cowkeepers themselves and the salesmen of the Cattle Market were also in favour of it.
Mr. Gibbins and the several members of the deputation corroborated what had fallen from the Lord Mayor, and strongly advocated the necessity of having the hospitals speedily established.
Mr. Rudkin called the attention of Mr. Waddington to the fact that the day before there were fourteen diseased cows seized at the slaughter-house of the Cattle Market, which had been sent there from the cowsheds of the metropolis. He argued that this in itself was a proof that the Order in Council, as at present carried out, was insufficient to prevent diseased cows from being sent from the cowsheds by their owners to be slaughtered for human food.
Mr. Waddington, who listened very attentively to the whole of the statements, said he would take an early opportunity of communicating with Sir George Grey upon the subject. In the first instance, however, he wished the deputation to forward to him their views in writing, and these also would be transmitted to the Home Secretary.
The deputation promised to comply with the suggestion, and thanked Mr. Waddington for the courtesy with which he had received and the patience with which he had listened to them.
Yorkshire.—The plague has extended to this district. The cases reported, however, are extremely few, and precautions are being taken which it is hoped may stop the further progress of the disease. On Tuesday a meeting of the Yorkshire Medical Veterinary Society was held at Leeds, and the question was discussed in all its bearings. It was stated that four cases had occurred in Leeds, and the disease has also appeared in the Skyrack division of the Riding. The general result of the discussion was, that members of the society were recommended, when diseased cattle were submitted, not to order them to be killed, but to place them in a sanatorium for medicinal treatment; the wholesale destruction of the animals being regarded as a blot upon the profession.
Indeed, information has reached us of the disease existing in Dumfriesshire, but there is some doubt on this point. So long as we hear of infected, or probably infected, cattle being disseminated in large numbers from the great markets of the country, we must have the propagation of the malady. For the welfare of this country, it is deeply to be regretted that our Government cannot deal with this question as Continental authorities do. I regret to say some of our neighbours laugh at our expense. They see us helpless owing to the wretched state of our laws on the subject, and they are not a little amused at the theories of spontaneous development of the disease which some still advocate. The French Emperor has sent over Professor Bouley, who is still in this country, and who telegraphed on his first arrival, about ten days ago, that the ports of France should be instantly closed to British cattle. This has been done, and we may depend upon it the French people will not suffer as we now must.—Gamgee, Lettre du 24 Août.
August 16.
More Seizures of Diseased Meat.—Yesterday Mr. Paget, in the course of the proceedings at the Thames Police Court, was informed that there was a large quantity of meat in a van in the police-yard adjoining, which had been seized that day by Mr. J. Stevens, the sanitary inspector of Mile-end Old Town, and which was described as unfit for human food. The inspector stated, that in consequence of having been informed that there was a quantity of diseased meat at the shop of Mr. Frost, butcher, Sydney-street, Mile-end Old Town, he went there that morning, and found four quarters of beef (two fore and two hind quarters) which were from a diseased beast. He made a seizure of them, and heard that the animal had been sent by a person of the name of Stephens, a cowkeeper in business on Bow-common. The meat was in a very nasty state, and totally unfit for human food. (Mr. Paget went into the police-yard to examine the meat, which was in a very shocking state.) Dr. Freeman, Medical Officer of Health of the Hamlet of Mile-end Old Town, stated that his attention was called to the state of the meat by the sanitary inspector. He examined it, and gave his opinion that it should be destroyed, as it was not only in a diseased condition, but he believed that it had died from some disease. Mr. Paget: Can you state the nature of the disease which caused its death?—Witness: I cannot. Most likely it was the prevailing epidemic; and if it were eaten it would be very injurious. Mr. Paget, after hearing the evidence, ordered that the meat should be immediately destroyed, when the inspector took the van with its contents to a knacker’s yard to see the order carried into effect.
Nefarious Attempt to spread the Plague.—Yesterday Mr. Gifford, Sanitary Inspector to the parish of Paddington, asked (at Marylebone Police Court) for the magistrate’s advice under the following circumstances:—Applicant said that, in consequence of information received, he yesterday went to a cowshed situate on the Maryland Farm, Harrow-road. He found the door fastened. On looking through one of the chinks, he saw a cow which apparently was in the worst stage of the now prevailing disease, and his opinion was verified after he had burst open the door and examined the animal. He subsequently ascertained that the diseased cow had been brought some distance by a man who was at feud with the owner of the Maryland Farm, and surreptitiously placed amongst the healthy cattle. This was the first case where the disease had shown itself in the parish of Paddington. Mr. Yardley referred the applicant to the Order in Council, dated the 24th of July, 1865, under which he thought inspectors of nuisances had power to act summarily.
The End