ABSTRACTS
207
certain villages situated on the Danube having been due to its introduction from
Rumania. The packs of sheep taken from one side to the other for grazing on the
Danubian islands in consequence of the desiccated condition of the pastures on the two
banks, the contraband of sheep transported by boats and the carcases thrown into the
river constituted the probable mode of penetration of sheep-pox from Rumania into
Bulgaria.
As to foot-and-mouth disease, the author emphasizes the view previously expressed
that the appearance of the disease in a Balkanic country is generally followed by its
spread along the whole of the peninsula. Specific instances are cited to illustrate this.
Some data are produced to show that, prior to 1924, glanders principally existed
in the districts adjoining Dobroudja and Thrace and also amongst the horses of certain
Rumanian nomads.
From the available epizootiological data concerning dourine, it would appear that
the disease for the first time was encountered in Bulgaria in a stallion imported from
Hungary in 1898. The author states that cases of dourine are chiefly noticed in the
neighbouring frontier zone of Dobroudja amongst young mares, which constitute the
agency through which the disease is imported into Bulgaria.
From the foregoing, one may formulate the two deductions that (1) for prophylaxis
against certain epizootics, which especially concern the Balkan Peninsula, an inter -
Balkanic arrangement is indicated [similar arrangements may be found desirable
in other parts of the world] and (2) the danger of the passage of epizootics exists in-
dependently of the activity or of the suppression of international traffic. A case in point
was the appearance of sheep-pox and foot-and-mouth disease in the districts of Trn.
in spite of the fact that the frontier between Bulgaria and Yugoslavia was entirely
closed by means of barbed wire netting.
The author refers to the Franco-Swiss and Franco-Belgian Arrangements and to the
Franco-Italian and Franco German Conventions regulating frontier traffic and the
movement of animals for pasturage. The question of frontier protection against
epizootics is also frequently dealt with in the Veterinary Commercial Conventions of
which it constitutes an integral part, as the Conventions between Rumania and
Czechoslovakia [1930], between Yugoslavia and Greece [1927] and between Bulgaria and
Turkey [1933].
A comparison of these Arrangements and Conventions shows that, independently
of the differences imposed by the conditions peculiar to the contracting countries, they
stipulate almost wholly the same rules. Thus, the ententes relative to the pasturage
for horses provide for (1) the identification of animals and their brand-marks ; (2) a
certificate of health delivered by the mayor testifying that the animals concerned come
from a locality free from a given epizootic ; (3) the passage of veterinary authorities
across the frontier for the purpose of visiting the animals ; (4) the adoption of combative
measures.
The seasonal movements of animals, however, relate to the realm of importation,
and in the Convention regulating such traffic the following rules are chiefly stipulated :
(1) the identification of the proprietaries concerned ; (2) the compulsory presenta-
tion of a descriptive statement for the identification of beasts of burden or of draught