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From DR. C. PALMER, Presidency Surgeon, to S. C. BAYLEY, ESQ, Junior Secretary to the
Government of Bengal,—(dated the 7th October 1860.)
SIR,
I HAVE the honor to forward my Report on the Cattle Disease
Which appeared in this neighbourhood in 1864.
I regret very much the great delay in submitting this : practically,
however, this delay has been of advantage, and has added much to the
interest of the subject. I am convinced that the disease now raging in
England is the same we had here in 1864. I am persuaded it is a disease
which for years has existed extensively in India, but which has up to this
time not been recognized, and I am hopeful that it is amenable to treatment.
Occasional or sporadic cases of a mild character are frequently met with
and are successfully treated.
Should His Honor consider this Report of sufficient worth to be printed,
I shall be glad to lend you any assistance in correcting the proofs.
Report on the Calcutta Epizootic or Cattle Disease of 1864.
THE year 1864 will be memorable in the annals of Bengal as that in which the first
Agricultural Exhibition was held in India. The collection of animals of various kinds was
such as the most sanguine promoters of this great, and successful undertaking scarcely ven-
tured to anticipate. The accommodation laid out in the spacious grounds of Belvidere was
however ample. There was no crowding of the varied, numerous, and interesting gathering of
cattle, horses, goats, &c.; all of which were kept distinct and separate, were well housed
and cared for, and the space allotted was all that was required, either individually or collective-
ly. It was not long, however, after the opening of the Exhibition on the 24th January, that
one of the cows exhibited, was taken ill and died. Several Exhibitors took alarm and early
removed their cattle; a rumour fast gained ground that a "Murrain" had broken out. This
fear was soon confirmed by the fact that other cattle became ill and died; and it was consider-
ed so serious that the subject was brought officially to the notice of Government, and the
Government was requested to take the matter into consideration and cause an investigation
to be instituted and reported upon. The Agricultural and Horticultural Society of Bengal,
through the representations of Mr. John Stalkartt, took an active part in the enquiry, and sug-
gested to His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor the appointment of a medical officer to assist,
or rather to conduct, the wished tor enquiry. In compliance with that request, the writer of this
paper was directed to carry out the views of the Society and furnish a report on the nature
and" history of this " Murrain," and, if possible, to suggest a probable method of successful
treatment of cattle attacked by it, and the means to be adopted to check its progress.
When, however, the orders of Government to this effect were received, (and there was no
delay whatever in issuing this order) the disease was on the decline, not however before it had
committed extensive ravages in the dairies and farm-yards in the Suburbs of Calcutta.
We purpose, for the sake of clearness, to speak of this disease as the " Calcutta Epizootic
of 1864," believing this term Epizootic to be more correct, and to convey a more definite
meaning than the term " Murrain" or Cattle Plague. The word "Epizootic" having precisely
the same technical signification in veterinary medicine and pathology, that "Epidemic" has in
human.
The earliest cases of the " Calcutta Epizootic" that appeared in the neighbourhood, and
were brought under treatment, occurred on the 2nd January, or prior to the opening of the
Exhibition. There is little doubt but that the disease existed to a considerable extent for some
time even antecedent to this ; indeed, it is difficult to define a period for its first appearance in
Calcutta. It will be shewn presently that a disease very similar, if not identical, broke out in
Entally, in the Suburbs of Calcutta, in 1862, and since then occasional or sporadic cases have
been observed. The opinion has been entertained by many that the disease originated
amongst the cattle exhibited at Belvidere ; but such was, as we have just shewn, not the case.
It existed for some time previous to the holding of the Exhibition. There is ample proof, how-
ever that many healthy cattle contracted the disease there, and carrying it to their homesteads
infected others. Mr. Rutherford, who was the first to recognize the existence of the Epizootic,
was early impressed with the idea that he- was dealing with a disease hitherto unre-
cognized in this neighbourhood, by either cattle proprietors or by his profession, and
it was not long before he was made fully aware of its intractable, almost incurable,
nature, and of its infectious character. As has been observed, it first attacked one, and
then many of the cattle exhibited, and towards the close of the Exhibition the Epizootic