acts so energetically in the destruction of fungi; that plants, when in health, give out ozone, and thus protect themselves from the devouring enemy ever ready to pounce upon the unprotected organism, we need not wonder that, during our oppressively moist days and unseasonably cold nights, the chemical changes connected with (or themselves the sources of) the vitality of the plant should be subdued or oppressed, the quantity of ozone in the air and on the leaf be diminished, and the torpid condition of the leaf render it an easy prey to the invisible but omnipresent enemy, and universal mildew be the result.

THE CATTLE PLAGUE IN EUROPE.

BY J. R. DODGe, of the dePARTMENT OF agriculture.

The years 1865-'6 will be memorable in the annals of British farm stock. Long will farmers of the island kingdom painfully recur to recent scenes of suffering and pecuniary loss, in yard and field, in shed and byre, when medication seemed worthless and recovery impossible. Three millions of pounds sterling, or fifteen millions of dollars, may be a moderate estimate of the diminu tion of the meat supply and stock of the farm; but the indirect money losses flowing from the visitation in the cost of treatment and care, in diminished profits of pasturage, reduction of the aggregate stock of farm-yard manures, derangement of crop rotations, failures of farmers of moderate resources, increase in prices of meat, and other items of pecuniary damage, are not at present calculable.

The disease has distinctive characterestics, but they are so numerous that a confusion of names for it has arisen in different countries, at different times. Formerly it was known only as a murrain; a general designation for fatal diseases among cattle. In Germany, where its visits have often excited alarm and elicited medical inquiry, it has been known by a variety of hard words, given in accordance with prevalent theories of its nature, one of them signifying an impaction of the third stomach; others having reference to the condition of the liver; others meaning gastric fever, and malignant dysenteric fever. In France it is called Peste, and Le Typhus contagieux des bêtes bovines. Sometimes it is known as the Siberian Cattle Plague, which is liable to be confounded with the Siberian Boil Plague-an enzootic rather than an epizootic disease. Gamgee formerly called it Contagious Typhoid Plague. Typhus Boum Contagiosus is common upon the continent. In Great Britain it is the Cattle Plague. It is in all these localities the same disease, having the same symptoms, and attended with similar fatality.

HISTORY OF THE DISEASE.

It is deemed probable by European veterinary authorities that rarely has a period of fifty years elapsed without a visitation of some deadly cattle disease. Homer's Iliad, Virgil's Georgics, Columella, and several ancient agricultural writers, attest the correctness of such a view. The history of six hundred years past, more familiarly known, is full of references to these murrains, generally fol lowing in the wake of large armies, and spreading desolation among farm herds. These outbreaks were not always the present rinderpest. The Black Death, commencing in 1347, attacked men, horses, cattle, deer, bears, wolves, hares,

1

and other animals. In 1709 all countries between Russia and France were infected. At this time 70,000 head perished in Naples, 100,000 in Silesia, 300,000 in the Netherlands. In upper Italy the plague was frightful in 1744, when 40,000 perished in Piedmont, 18,000 in Milan, thence passing into Germany and destroying 200,000. From 1745 to 1749 the losses of Denmark were estimated at 280,000. It entered Sweden and destroyed 32.584 cattle in the province of Schonen, leaving alive but two per cent. of the horned stock. In 1745 it appeared in England for the fourth time. In 1774 the cattle of some of the French provinces were almost exterminated, and the losses were reported at 150,000 cattle, worth 15,000,000 francs. Just prior to the close of the last century, in three years of war, Italy lost from 3,000,000 to 4,000,000. Faust estimated a loss of 10,000,000 head of cattle in France and Belgium from 1713 to 1796.

It is officially stated that the rinderpest, since 1711, in Germany alone has carried off 25,000,000 cattle, and that the cases of recovery have averaged but one in four. Such is the fatal character of this disease, which has appeared in all seasons, spares neither young nor old, and is little dependent on external circumstances.

THE DISEASE IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Professor Gamgee cites historical mention of five outbreaks in Great Britain of a disease identical with the present plague; the first in the year 810, extending through Europe, manifesting its greatest power in Britain; the second in 1223 to 1225, attacking respectively Hungary, Austria, Italy, Germany, and the British Isles; the third, nearly five hundred years later, in 1714, at which period all Europe was severely scourged; the fourth in 1745, continuing twelve years, in the third of which 80,000 cattle were destroyed by orders in council, and in the twelfth and last the single county of Cheshire lost 30,000; and again, in 1769, when comparatively few cattle were destroyed. The present or sixth outbreak occurred in June, 1865, after three years of fearful ravages in several portions of eastern Europe. In 1862, in the Austrian dominions, 296,000 attacks were reported, and 152,000 deaths. In 1863 it overran Hungary and its dependencies, as well as Gallicia, attacking 14 per cent. of all the cattle in those countries. Dr. Marsch, veterinary professor at the Agricultural College at Altenburg, Hungary, writes of the recent visitation: "Within the last year the Scourge of the rinderpest has caused ravages among the cattle to an enormous extent, chiefly in the eastern crown lands." In 1863 the fatality amounted to 65 per cent. of the cases attacked in Hungary, 77 in east Gallicia, 81 in Croatia and Sclavonia, 83 on the military frontier, SS in Moravia, 92 in lower Austria, and 94 in west Gallicia.

The origin of the disease in England is thus given by the "commissioners appointed to inquire into the origin and nature of the cattle plague:"*

"Twenty-three days at least before the first outbreak in London a parcel of Russian bullocks, the first it is asserted that were brought direct from that country to England, were sold in the metropolitan market by the importer, a London cattle salesman. They had been shipped at Revel, and landed at Hull; part of them had been sold and sent to various places in the north of England, and the rest despatched to London. The southern provinces of Russia, if not the birthplace, are the constant home of a disease which, as we shall hereafter show, is identified with the cattle plague; and to this cause the introduction of the plague into England has been often and confidently ascribed."

*The commission consisted of Earl Spencer, Viscount Cranborne, Councillor Robert Lowe, Dr. Lyon Playfair, C. B., Clare Sewell Read, M. P., Henry Bence Jones, M. D., Richard Quain, M. D., Edmund Alexander Parkes, M. D., and Messrs. John Robinson M'Clean, Thomas Wormald, Robert Cee.y, and Charles Spooner.

Some obscurity hangs over the early history of this transaction, but the general belief is strong among intelligent Englishmen that the germ of the disease was imported from Russia in the cargo above mentioned.

In this second report, the commissioners say that the careful observations of medical officials "point distinctly to contagion as the means by which the plague was originated and propagated in London."

In France, to which country the infection spread, practical and efficacious measures were promptly adopted. Early in September last, transit and importation of all cattle was prohibited, and the refuse of all cattle of infested countries was strictly prohibited on all the frontiers; and the same prohibition was applied to countries bordering on those infested. No cattle were allowed to pass any of the frontiers without rigid and competent inspection. Such measures were adopted immediately upon the report of two professors of the veterinary school at Alfort, who were sent to make returns from official examination of the disease in Germany and England. Notwithstanding all this precaution, the disease was introduced in two different localities, almost simultaneously, in a commune in Pas-de-Calais, by an importation of two Durhams from England, and on the Belgian frontier by a cow purchased in Belgium. By prompt and vigorous action of the government, the disease was completely suppressed by the beginning of November, with the total loss of forty-three cattle. In De cember it again broke out in the Jardin d'Acclimation of Bois-de-Bologne, introduced by two gazelles imported from England. It spread rapidly to yaks, zebus, goats, and fallow-deer; but all infected animals were at once slaughtered, to the number of thirty-five, and all traces of the disease were extirpated.

In Belgium, where precautionary and radical measures, analogous to those which were so efficacious in France, were adopted, the number of losses has not exceeded four or five hundred.

Returns from South Holland show that out of 29,031 cases 7,410 were slaugh tered, 8,966 died, and 9,896, or about twenty-four per cent., recovered. In Utrecht the number of recoveries appear to be unusually large, being 926 to 790 deaths, while few have been slaughtered. Here the action of the authori ties was resisted by force, and had to be supported by military detachments; and in some cases the troops were beaten off by large bands of peasants, and were obliged to take the cow-sheds by regular siege.

Its spread in England and Scotland were in accelerating ratio from the period of its first appearance, June 27, 1865, at Islington, in a herd in which were two cows just brought from the metropolitan cattle market. The entire herd, numbering ninety-three, fell victims, with several others purchased afterwards. In certain districts in the vicinity of London four-fifths of all the cattle either died or were slaughtered.

Early in July the disease appeared in Norfolk county; soon after in Suffolk and Shropshire; thence it attacked county after county; and before the end of the month invaded Scotland. By the 14th of October it existed in twenty-nine counties in England, two in Wales, and sixteen in Scotland. The number attacked in the first week of October was 1,054; in the second, 1,729; and in the third, 1,873. Up to this date the whole number attacked was 17,073, of which but 848 had recovered, or less than five per cent.; 7,912 having died, 6,866 been killed, with 2,047 still on the sick-list. An analysis of the published returns shows that the percentage of attacks increased during 1865, and until the cattle plague act went into operation. Up to December, of every 100 cattle on farms or in sheds where the disease had established itself, 44 were attacked; to December 30, 51; and to January 27, 54. Of the total number known to

Date.

have been attacked, up to the culminating point of this fatal epizootic, there were

in every 100 cattle

The officially reported total number of attacks up to March 24, 1866, a month after the decline commenced, was 203,350; killed, 39,487; died, 120,834; recovered, 28,656; unaccounted for, 14,373.

It should be remembered that the cases reported are by no means all existing. The inspectors were unable to detect all the concealments practiced by butchers, jobbers, dairymen, and farmers. A London cow-keeper acknowledged to the cattle commission that of forty-one cows that died or were slaughtered on his premises, the inspector got the "knacker's" receipt for the eleven that actually died of the disease.

Cheshire suffered more than any other county. While the first appearance of the plague in England was early in June, the first case in Cheshire did not occur until the first week in October. There was but a single attack which proved fatal, and no new cases existed during the second week. Six cases appeared during the third week, and twenty-three in the fourth, ending October 28. From this time the disease spread rapidly, the new cases weekly through the year proving as follows, respectively: 40, 90, 279, 275, 343, 646, 943, 1,410. Up to January 11, 5,761 attacks had occurred in three months, while only 197 animals had been killed. But this alarming condition of affairs was only the prelude to heavier loss and more widespread alarm. In two months more the frightful total of 39,739 was reached, but still only 747 animals had been killed. With the execution of the cattle-plague act came instant and regularly increasing amelioration. Up to September 1, 1866, the proportion of attacks to total number of cattle exposed was 53.985 per cent.

A great disparity in its severity is seen in the different counties. The proportion of attacks in Cambridgeshire was 21.232 per cent. of all the cattle in the county; in the metropolitan police district, 17.784 per cent.; in the East Riding of Yorkshire, 17.537 per cent.; in Huntingdonshire, 12.583 per cent.; in the North Riding of Yorkshire, 8.888 per cent.; in Oxfordshire, 8.703 per cent.; in Lincolnshire, 8.808 per cent.; Norfolk and Shropshire came next. Ten counties show a low proportion, a fraction of one per cent., viz: Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, Devonshire, Cornwall, Somersetshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Leicestershire, and Rutlandshire.

The official returns up to October 13, 1866, show that the number of attacks per week in the island of Great Britain had been reduced to eleven cases.

Total

for.

number of attacks, 253,702; killed, 84.992; died, 124.303; recovered, 33,413; unaccounted for, 10,994-showing a total loss, in fifteen months, of about 220,000 animals. No one supposes this is the entire loss. It cannot fall much below a grand total of 300,000 if all the cases were ascertained. At only $50 per head the direct loss in cattle would be $15,000,000. Its indirect effects upon agricultural interests have cost and will still cost many millions.

CATTLE PLAGUE IN INDIA.

While the pest has been raging in Britain, it is worthy of remark that for two years past a fatal "murrain" has ravaged British Burmah, destroying 85 out of every 100 cattle or buffaloes attacked. An official commission has examined the subject in its various aspects, and Veterinary Surgeon T. P. Gudgin, of the second dragoon guards, has prepared an elaborate report upon the nature, causes, and treatment of the disease, which has recently been received officially by the Department of Agriculture. Buffaloes constitute a large proportion of the stock of the district, being stronger and more efficient workers than the common cattle. It appears that disease has committed frightful ravages among these herds from time to time for sixty years past, usually decimating the herds of horned cattle infected, often destroying them by hundreds, and sometimes sweeping off entire herds. It is found more prevalent in trading districts, in which the movement of cattle is frequent and extensive, while isolated districts and almost impenetrable jungles are comparatively exempt from its ravages. In 1864 heavy losses were endured, and in 1865 estimates of 100,000 victims were made. The plague is yearly becoming more widely disseminated, till cattle owners have yielded to despondency, and the cultivation of vegetable products, particularly of rice, has sensibly declined. The extension of the present outbreak, while in most cases traceable to infection, is charged measurably to epizootic influence, rendering the system peculiarly liable to attacks of the disease.

The cattle are not generally bred in the district. Purchases of buffaloes are usually made near the end of the dry period in anticipation of the approaching agricultural season; and it is in the beginning of the rainy season that the disease is most rapidly extended. Sudden access to luxuriant pasturage, after a reduction in condition from insufficient or inuutritious food in time of drought, may aid, it is thought, in extending the disease and increasing its severity. The report discredits the assumption that the disease is indigenous, brought into existence by atmospheric changes, or generated by the soil, or by miasmatic poisons. It acknowledges the possibility that such influences may be predisposing, but not creative. The general healthiness of the country is assumed from the condition, size, girth, and immense muscular development of the buffaloes.

The character of the disease is analogous to the "rinderpest" of the mother country, if not identical with it. It appears to have the same symptoms of a malignant and infectious fever of a typhoid character, attacking the mucus mempranes, running its course in the same period, characterized by a similar amount of mortality, and displaying the same post mortem lesions. It is propagated by means of infected clothing, drinking-vessels, hides, horns, and other material substances. The period of incubation varies from five to twelve days. Little has been accomplished by the use of medicines, or by any treatment whatever, in arresting the progress or reducing the death rate of this malady.

Efforts have been put forth to reduce the febrile action, restrain the diarrhoea, and raise the nervous energies. Epsom salts, sulphur, nitre, ginger, and camphor, have been recommended for the first stage; catechu and opium for the second; and linseed oil and spirits of turpentine for the third; but it is admitted of this course of treatment that "it does not promise much." It is claimed, however, in a report by Doctor Palmer, that the success of the turpentine and oil