Hull is a port on the northeastern coast of England, between which and New York a regular line of steamers plies, touching at Southampton, where cattle from the Channel Islands are taken on board and brought to the United States; and the department was strongly urged by the secretary of the New York Agricultural Society and others, to take precautions against the importation of infected cattle from that quarter. By a letter of February 10, 1879, from Mr. Packard, our consul at Liverpool, and by extracts from the London Times it appeared that pleuropneumonia had broken out in dairies near Liverpool, and that several cows had been then slaughtered by order of the privy council. It was in consequence of this information that an order of this department of February 26th, 1879, prohibiting the landing of cattle imported from England was issued.

In this connection it is proper to allude to the statement, widely published in this country and Great Britain, that certain cattle shipped from Portland, Maine, early in the year 1879, by the "Ontario," had been found to be diseased with pleuro-pneumonia on their arrival at Liverpool, and were condemned to be slaughtered. It was stated in the London Times that of one hundred and ninety-seven cattle landed at Liverpool by the "Ontario," all had been slaughtered, and thirteen of the number found to be infected. Upon inquiry it has been found that this shipment consisted of two herds, one said to have been from the West, and one from Canada. From the best evidence to be obtained, however, it is quite clear that these cattle were not infected with contagious pleuro-pneumonia, but only with common pneumonia, which is not con

tagious.

In a letter from Andrew Smith, dated Ontario Veterinary College, Toronto, March 7, 1879, speaking of the cattle shipped by the steamer "Ontario" he says:

Prof. Williams, of Edinburgh, who is justly recognized as one of the first pathologists of the day, had an opportunity to see over a hundred of these cattle slaughtered, and saw almost all of the deceased ones. He maintains that the cattle were only suffering from sporadic pneumonia, the result of exposure during a long and stormy voyage; but states that the changes in the lung tissues were very different from those which take place in contagious pleuro-pneumonia.

Mr. J. B. Sherman, superintendent of the Chicago Union Stock Yards, under date of February 4, 1879, says:

The most important blow struck at the interests of this city, State, and the Northwest, is the report in circulation relative to the prevalence of the cattle disease in the Northwest; and these reports are absolutely false.

From the most reliable information that can be obtained it is safe to conclude that no case of contagious pleuro-pneumonia was carried from the Western States to Liverpool by the Ontario; and further, that no case of such disease has ever existed in the Northwestern States.

In considering what measures are necessary for the prevention of this disease, it is necessary always to bear in mind one fact with regard to it, namely, that it has a period of incubation, varying probably from ten tó sixty days. Animals exposed to the disease have sometimes developed symptoms of it in as short a period as nine or ten days, while others exposed in a like manner have developed no symptoms of the disease for nearly sixty days.

In a series of experiments carefully conducted in France in 1851, where diseased animals were distributed among healthy ones, symptoms of the disease were manifested by the healthy animals in from nine to fifty-seven days after exposure, about twenty per cent. of them escaping contagion altogether.

It does not follow, however, from the fact that symptoms of the disease first appeared in the healthy animals so long after their first exposare that the disease lay dormant in them during all that period, because it is evident that many of them may not have contracted the disease at all until they had been exposed to it during a long period. Again, in cases where cattle have been on shipboard fifty or sixty days and the disease attracted no attention until the close of the voyage, it cannot be inferred that the disease had not developed itself long before, because it is evident that cattle would not be subject to such careful inspection on board ship as would lead to the detection of the early symptoms. Indeed, in the case of Chenery's cattle imported into Massachusetts from Holland, two of them were in such a condition of weakness that they were unable to walk when landed from the ship, and were carried on wagons some six or eight miles to their destination. By the order of the privy council of England forty days seems to be regarded as the usual period of incubation of pleuro-pneumonia.

INOCULATION AS A PREVENTIVE.

Allusion has already been made to the practice of inoculation as a preventive of the pleuro-pneumonia as practiced in South Africa and in Australia. There seems to be no doubt that all cattle are, in general, subject to the disease in question, but that inoculation is a preventive to the disease in its natural form.

Professor Gamgee gives some experiments made by Dr. Willems in Belgium in 1850-51. They are interesting as bearing upon several important points. In those experiments inoculation was introduced at the tip of the tail of the neat cattle, and it was found that symptoms of the disease were usually manifested, in the first group of observations, in from nine to eleven days. In another group of observations no symp toms of the disease were manifested until from twenty-two to twentyseven days after the inoculation, thus indicating that there is no regular limit to the incubation of the disease.

Dr. Willems also, in the years 1851-52, performed various experiments on animals of different species with a view to ascertaining whether any animals except neat cattle could be infected by the disease. Among the animals subjected to these experiments were rabbits, pea-fowls, chickens, dogs, goats, sheep, and pigs. None of the animals thus treated showed any signs of the disease; and one of the conclusions of Dr. Willems is that the bovine race alone is infected by inoculation with this disease, while other animals of other races inoculated with the same liquid experienced no ill effects.

A recent statement has appeared in the newspapers that more than twenty thousand cattle have perished by pleuro-pneumonia in the Island of Mauritius, and that more than a hundred deer had been infected by the same disease. It may be observed that no deer were included in the list of animals subjected to experiment by inoculation by Dr. Willems. While there is no sufficient evidence that other animals except neat cattle are subject to the pleuro-pneumonia, it is evident that there is great danger that the disease may be conveyed mechanically in the fleece of sheep, as it is known to be conveyed in the bedding, and by the executions of neat cattle; and as it also communicated by the stalls and cars in which diseased cattle have been kept. It is safe to conclude that this disease is as contagious and infectious as small-pox, and transmissible in the ame manner among animals as that disease is among, mankind. From the experiments of Dr. Willems and from the extensive prac

tice of inoculation in South Africa and Australia, it is fair to conclude that inoculation is a preventive of the disease in its natural form; but the objections to it are so many and so grave that the practice of it cannot be advised in this country under present conditions.

"The great objection to inoculation," says a writer already quoted, "is that it can only be practiced at the expense of a universal diffusion of the poison, and of its maintenance in a state of constant activity and growth. With such a universal diffusion of the virus, the stock-owners are virtually debarred from introducing any new stock for improving the native breeds, or infusing new vigor or stamina, inasmuch as such new arrivals would almost certainly fall early victims to the plague. Australia, therefore, now suffers from the permanent incubus of the lung plague, and can only import high class cattle at great risk."

In dairy regions, where the lands are inclosed and cattle are kept under daily supervision, it might be possible to make use of inoculation as the preventive, but not where the disease has broken over all bounds, and become general in a considerable section of country. Such, however, is not the case, and it is hoped never will be in any part of the United States; and inoculation is not to be regarded as any part of the remedy at present to be considered.

VALUE OF NEAT CATTLE AND OF THE CATTLE TRADE.

It is estimated that there were in the United States, in 1879, some thing more than 33,000,000 of neat cattle, valued at more than $586, 000,000. It is difficult to estimate the loss that would ensue by the prevalence of the pleuro-pneumonia throughout our country. It would evidently far exceed the present value of all the neat cattle of the country, because it would impair the productive capacity of the country for all future time.

In the article already cited, Dr. Law says:

Thus England, with her 6,000,000 head of cattle, has lost in deaths alone from lung fever in the course of forty years over $500,000,000. We, therefore, with our 28,000,000, should lose not less than $2,000,000,000 in the same length of time, allowing still a wide margin for the lower average value per head in America; and this terrible drain is for deaths alone, without counting all the expenses of deteriorated health in the survivors, of produce lost, of loss of progeny, of loss of fodder no longer safe to feed to cattle, of diminished harvests for lack of cultivation and manure, of quarantine and separate attendants whenever new stock is brought on a farm, of cleansing and disinfection of sheds and buildings, &c., which become absolutely essential in the cir

cumstances.

In this view the general introduction of this disease throughout our country would impose a loss in forty years of an amount equal to that of the present national debt. With this danger imminent at the present time, it is the duty of every department of the government to exercise its powers in the prevention of so great a national calamity.

In this connection it may be proper to give a statement showing the improvement of our trade in neat cattle with other nations, and to call attention to its rapid increase within the past few years. The exports of horned cattle during the first five months of the current fiscal year, ending June 30, 1879, amounted to $4,414,000-being $517,182 in excess of the value of the same during the entire preceding year. Of the cattle exported in 1878, about 62 per cent. went to Great Britain.

The following table gives the number and value of cattle exported from this country from 1873 to 1880.

It is interesting to observe that notwithstanding the restrictions upon the introduction of cattle from the United States into Great Britain, the number and value of cattle thus introduced during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1879, were nearly three times as great as of those introduced in the fiscal year 1878.

Noment showing the number and value of cattle exported from the United States to the United Kingdom and all other countries from July 1, 1872, to December 31, 1879.

These figures by no means show the full value of our unobstructed trade in neat cattle with foreign nations. Great Britain has suffered so much and so long from the pleuro-pneumonia that she is compelled to adopt stringent measures to prevent its introduction into her territory. Those measures consist at present of orders that cattle shall be slaughtered at or near her principal ports of entry. The British Government has established at the ports "lairs" where animals can be safely housed, and slaughter-pens sufficiently extensive to accommodate the business. Great complaints have been made by American exporters of cattle to England of these restrictions on the part of the British Government. It is hardly just, however, while no effective measures are adopted in the United States to even systematically ascertain the extent of the cattle disease in this country, and much less to adopt efficient measures for its suppression, to complain that the British Government adopts effective means to prevent the spread of the disease in that country.

The principal export of cattle to Great Britain has been heretofore and perhaps will continue to be of fatted cattle intended for immediate slaughter, and the injury to this branch of traffic by the restrictions referred to is by no means fatal. It is believed, however, that in future an extensive trade in what are known as store or lean cattle, intended to be driven inland in Great Britain and there fattened for the market, will naturally grow up if the traffic be unrestricted by such orders as now exist for the slaughter of cattle at the ports of importation. The British Government, as well as our own, is deeply interested in this question and appears to be disposed to encourage the trade in question so far as may be consistent with its own safety. Indeed, much correspondence has occurred between the British minister and the Department of State upon this subject.

In a letter of January 24, 1880, referring to the correspondence with regard to the recognition of certificates issued by customs officers of the United States, which has been referred to this department, the British minister says:

I venture to hope, however, in the interest both of Great Britain and of the United States, that Congress will, in its wisdom, pass such laws as may have the effect of obliterating the disease in this country, even if it be at the expense of a considerable outay, though but a trifle compared with the loss of property which would arise from thecontinuance and spread of this destructive disease.

EXISTING LAWS AND REGULATIONS ON THE SUBJECT.

The only authority which any of the departments of this government has to deal with the disease in question is found in sections 2493, 2494, 2495, which are as follows:

SEC. 2493. The importation of neat cattle and the hides of neat cattle from any foreign country into the United States is prohibited: Provided, That the operation of this section shall be suspended as to any foreign country or countries, or any parts of such country or countries, whenever the Secretary of the Treasury shall officially determine, and give public notice thereof, that such importation will not tend to the introduction or spread of contagious or infectious diseases among the cattle of the United States; and the Secretary of the Treasury is hereby authorized and empowered, and it shall be his duty, to make all necessary orders and regulations to carry this law into effect, or to suspend the same as therein provided, and to send copies thereof to the proper officers in the United States, and to such officers or agents of the United States in foreign countries as he shall judge necessary.

SEC. 2494. The President of the United States, whenever in his judgment the importation of neat cattle and the hides of neat cattle may be made without danger of the introduction or spread of infectious or contagious disease among the cattle of the United States, may, by proclamation, declare the provisions of the preceding section to be inoperative, and the same shall be afterward inoperative and of no effect from and after thirty days from the date of said proclamation.

SEC. 2495. Any person convicted of a willful violation of any of the provisions of the two preceding sections, shall be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars, or imprisoned not exceeding one year, or both, in the discretion of the court.

Under these provisions it seems to have been assumed that the law conferred no authority upon the Secretary of the Treasury to make special orders in particular cases, or to impose any conditions whatever. Upon a critical examination of the provisions in question, under the present Secretary, it has been held that the power to suspend the prohibition of importation implies the power to suspend it upon proper conditions imposed by regulation; and it is under this construction that the annexed order of the department providing for a quarantine for cattle imported from foreign countries was issued. It will be seen by the explanation which will now be given of the orders issued by this department, that the Secretary has exercised to the fullest extent all authority vested in him by law for the suppression of pleuro-pneumonia.

On the 18th of December, 1878, a dispatch was received by cable from Liverpool, through the Department of State, stating that unless cattleshipped from the United States had a government health certificate when embarked, they would probably be slaughtered on landing; and suggesting that Minister Welch be cabled of an assurance that veterinary officers would be appointed at the seaports. Upon receipt of this dispatch the department issued an order to collectors of customs and others, authorizing the inspection of neat cattle proposed to be shipped to Great Britain, and the issuing of a certificate that such cattle were free from disease.

A copy of this order, marked A, is herewith transmitted.

On the 1st of February, 1879, a second order was issued modifying the order of December 18, 1878, and making inspection at the ports, which before had been voluntary only, compulsory in all cases. By the same order collectors of customs were requested to promptly forward to this department any information which they might be able to obtain ot the presence of contagious or infectious diseases prevailing among live animals in their vicinity.

A copy of this order, marked B, is transmitted.

On the 26th of February, 1879, an order addressed to collectors of customs was issued, stating that the department had learned that pleuropneumonia had recently been found to exist among neat cattle at Hull,