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to this disease within the last few years. The symptoms are, for the most part, the some as in the
first mentioned disease, with the exception that no pustules are visible on the body. The Natives,
however, appear to think that the two diseases are distinct, and that what Cholera is to man,
Puschima is to the cattle; they look upon it as fatal, and do not appear to try any remedy
or care." Mr. Oliphant states that owing, as he is informed, to the ravages of this latter
Epizootic chiefly, the diminution of cattle in his District, Jessore, is such that the price has
risen "ten times higher than it was formerly." In the District of Burdwan again two dis-
tinct diseases are described. The one as Ghootee or Small-pox, the other is there also, called
" Puschima," which is more fatal than the former. The immediate symptoms are loss of appetite,
swelling of the glands of the throat, difficulty in breathing, enlargement of the head, and
occasionally of the stomach also." It is scarcely possible to have a more independent
convincing evidence than the above, that the two distinct Epizootic, we have named, have
been for years raging in one and the same District or locality, and it we consider establishes
our view that the two Epizootics, viz., the Eczema and the Calcutta Epizootic, have extensively
existed and not improbably contemporaneously in the same localities, and that they
have been in some instances confounded. The reports before us are replete with similar
evidence; but we must be content with one further extract to add still greater force to
this opinion. Mr. Jervoise Grey, writing from Sarun, describes a disease which is there called
" Seetla" or " Matha" or " Chenchuck," and of which the symptoms are similar to those of the
Cattle Murrain prevailing in the Madras Presidency, namely, refusal of food, running from
the mouth, eyes and nostrils, and purging, but pustules, are said to appear only slightly
and occasionally. This, we are of opinion, is the Calcutta disease, and not the Eczema
" Epizootica." Mr. Holm, a gentleman of great experience in Rungpore, alludes to a
disease amongst cattle known there as "Gola-Har," the chief symptom of which is
" ulcerated sore throat," for which no successful treatment is known. He also describes the
Bussunt or Small-pox and " Cholera."
Sufficient has, we think, been advanced to prove the existence, very extensively throughout
India, of two distinct and very fatal Epizootics; the one, we believe, to be identical with the
" Eczema Epizootica," or " Apthous Epizootic," or " foot and mouth disease" of England. The
other is identical with the Calcutta Epizootic of 1864, and which we have advanced evidence
to shew was no new disease but had hitherto been either confounded with other
diseases, or not taken any very special notice of. We have hitherto spoken of this
Epizootic as that of Calcutta of 1864, without attempting to classify it amongst recognized
cattle diseases. We have little doubt, however, that this disease is the one known in Europe
as the " Rinderpest," the Epizootic which for so many years past has devastated Central
Europe, and from " its home" the steppes of Russia has again forced a footing in England
and is at this moment working out its deadly course amongst the cattle of the metropolis, and by
the last received accounts is spreading through the counties of England; a disease which in the
opinion of those best qualified to judge, both in England and France, was restricted to a circle,
large indeed, but still restricted, and could not possibly extend itself beyond those precincts. If
our opinion be correct, it will be seen that this deadly cattle scourge has been making rapid strides
in this an eastward direction, and that all the regulations which have been on the Continent
of Europe so rigidly enforced, the Military 'cordons' which were to have prevented any
diseased cattle from leaving a farm or a locality in which the disease had shewn itself, and
the strict supervision exercised at ports, both of export and import, have apparently proved
futile in checking the spread of this fatal Epizootic in a westwardly direction. Accepting the
opinion expressed by Professor Symonds and other leading veterinary authorities, both in
England and on the Continent, that the steppes of Russia is the home of this disease, and that
it has spread from thence by infection, and that by severe sanitary prohibitions its progress
might be limited; it is a highly interesting and important fact to advance that this
same disease has travelled eastward, and as it has been unchecked by any sanitary restrictions,
its progress has been, perhaps, proportionally more rapid in an eastwardly and unguarded and
unprotected direction than it has been westwardly, where science, backed by arbitrary and even
despotic Government aid, has been called in to check its march, but with, as it now appears,
only partial success; it was checked only, not turned back; it is raging in England with a
violence equal to any it has exhibited in India or elsewhere, and threatens to bring distress and
disease to thousands. It, however, must be borne in mind that, although a universally admitted
contagious or infectious disease, it is not at present believed to owe its existence to infection alone,
it is held to be a true Epizootic engendered by some malarious, or, as yet unknown, Epizootic
influence, and in all probability its cause will be found to be similar to all other Epizootics,
and it will exhaust itself or die out. It would occupy too much space to transcribe the
symptoms, &c. given by Professor Simonds and others of the Epizootic of Central Europe
and Russia, and which is known on the Continent as the Rinderpest, which name
Professor Simonds proposes to designate it by in England. We content ourselves
by asserting that those symptoms so closely resemble the symptoms observed here
of the disease in 1864, that little doubt can be entertained as to the identity of
the two diseases: but should any person wish to pursue this subject more minutely