The Press.
London, England, 1857-04-25 00:00:00

THE MURRAIN.

THE spread of a cattle plague on the Continent is
exciting such lively apprehensions in this country
that every fact connected with the nature of the
disease is of consequence to cattle proprietors. A
recent letter from Vienna published in the Times
contains a full and detailed description of the symp-
toms of the cattle diseases on the Continent.

There are three complaints which are popularly
called " Vieh.seuche" (cattle plagues). The first is
a catarrhal affection of the lungs; the second a pul.
monary complaint with typhoid symptoms ; and the
third a highly contagious typhus (typhus bovum con-
tagiosus). In letters which have appeared in the
Times Mr. Redcliffe speaks of the pulmonary com-
plaint with typhoid symptoms; Mr. Gamgee of the
contagious typhus, which is the real cattle plague
(Rinder pest), or murrain of the Steppe; and 1)r.
Greenhow of the "lung disease," which may mean
either the simple catarrhal affection of the lungs or
the pulmonary complaint with typhoid symptoms.
The symptoms of the simple catarrhal affection of
the lungs are well known. It is only under unfa-
vourable circumstances or injudicious treatment that
they end fatally.
The " lung disease," combined with typhus, may
be divided into three periods. The symptoms of
the first period, during which there is no fever,
are—sadness and prostration of strength; secondly,
drooping head and pendulous ears ; thirdly, eyes
fixed, without loss either of lustre or of colour (in
vigorous animals the (yes are often red and fiery,
but dry); fourthly, the skin of the nostrils pale and
the inside of the mouth " slimy ;" fifth, the tempera-
ture of the body low, with horns, ears, and feet cool ;
sixth, the skin dry and tense (stretched), the hair
lustreless, rough, and bristly, and erected along the
spine ; seventh, breathing ditticult. The first period
sometimes lasts a fortnight or three weeks ; the
second, or feverish period, lasts three or four days
while the third period commonly ends in death. The
exhaustion of the animal during the progress of the
disease in the second period is very great. The teeth
are loose, the sensitiveness of pressure on the loins
acute, while the pain in the chest is so great that the
animal seldom lies down, or only on the side of the
affected lung. If both lungs are diseased, the
animal rests on its breastbone, with its legs under
its body, and its head and neck stretched out.

The real cattle plague, the contagious typhus, pre-
sents four distinct periods. The first usually begins
about the fifth day after infection, and the animal is
either unusually vicious, or languid and insensible to
outward impressions. Then, when it rises from the
ground, it does not stretch itself like healthy animals,
and " arches," instead of sinks, its back. Twitch-
ings are perceptible on the skin ; the hair in some
parts becomes rough ; the eye is congested and
lustrous; the loins susceptible of pressure; a cough
begins about the eighth day; and the plague is
declared. Aguish paroxysms are frequent; the
mouth and gums sviell, the incisors become loose,
and a single (not continuous) violent, hollow, and
convulsive cough sets in. During the third period,
which commences about the tenth day, these symp-
toms increase in virulence. The animal becomes
weak and sad, the emaciation is extreme, and a dis-
charge issues from the eyes and nostrils. About the
fourteenth day the fourth period is reached, when
the poor creature can scarcely stand ; the discharge
increases, the animal suffers great pain, and about
the seventeenth day dies. The proper treatment for
the two first diseases is well established ; for the fatal
" Loser Durre," as it is called in Austria, there is
nothing for it but instant death.
It is n quite certain which of the three murrains
is now raging on the Continent ; but, from its rapid
spread and infectious nature, it is much to be feared
that the real " User Darre," the contagious typhus,
is the disease.

401

DR.VAUGHAN UPON MILITARY EDUCATION
AND PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
DR. VAI:CattN, Head Master of Harrow, has ad-
dressed a letter to a general officer upon the above
subject. Dr. Vaughan objects, first, to any prema-
ture withdrawal of boys from public schools in order
to subject them to a special and private course of
preparation for the army, upon the ground that a
pulllic•school education is the best preparation for
the discipline of the army, and that it is important
that such education should not end too early :
Its chief benefits are found in its later stages. So far
as knowledge is concerned, no one will doubt this. But
it is true in other and even more important respects.
Habits of self-control in point of language and manner,
of deference to authority and consideration for equals,
not to mention what I consider to be of the utmost im•
portance in reference to the training of officers—the re•
aponsibility thrown upon the elder boys cf a public school
with regard to the conduct of their juniors—are all ac-
quired gradually, and often slowly; and a boy who leaves
school at a low point in it will probably have failed to gain
them.

Secondly, Dr. Vaughan objects to the formation in
public schools of an isolated military section :
If boys (observes Dr. Vaughan) destined for the army
are to stay at a public school till they go up for examina-
tion for their commissions, they ought to stay there as
Lona fide participants in the education as well es society
of the school, and not be put into a position of marked
difference—a school within a school, for example (as some-
times proposed), into a separate boarding• house, under a
separate tutor, with a totally distinct department of study,
arc. The advantage of their remaining at a public school
is dependent upon their being mixed up in all its compe-
titions and associations, though there may be no Farm in
their having some private instruction (out of school hours)
on special subjects suitable to their future profession,
superadded to that which forms the staple work of the
school.

From these two considerations, Dr. Vaughan
maintains that, with respect to the examination for
commissions, it follows that the preliminary exami-
nation must either (t) be fixed at a very low stan-
dard, or else (2) be made general enough to embrace
all the ordinary studies of a public school. To the
first alternative there is a serious objection :
It gives a contemptible aspect to the qualifications for
the army. It encourages early idleness and late cram-
ming, It makes boys neglect the studies of school, and
rely upon a brief special effort to carry them through at
last. It is entirely fallacious Rs a test of capacity or of
diligence. and destroys all stimulus to high proficiency.
I can understand, indeed, !hat it may be necessary to men-
tion certain things in which entire failure would I e a
disqualification in litnine for a commission. Bad spelling,
bad grammar, very bad writing, ignorance of arithmetic—
perhaps of the elements of algebra, and of a book or two of
Euclid—might come under this head. These things are
easily defined, and would never be construed into more
than negative conditions. This is a very different thing
from professing to define generally the minimum of know-
ledge required for a pass. It is one thing to say, " Certain
things are fatal," and quite another thing to say, " Certain
things are enough."
The second alternative, which is "to open wide
the subjects of examination, so as to embrace, with
equal favour, all those on which a public schoolboy
has professedly spent Lis time," Dr. Vaughan has no
hesitation in preferring, on the ground principally
that a boy who has been good at classics may "more
often than " succeed in mathematics or military
science when his attention is turned to that study.
" At all events," observes Dr. Vaughan, " one who
has well used the means of improvement which he
has had is more likely to make a good officer, or a
gocd anything, than one who has not, even though
the latter may have contrived by a brief course of
cramming to reach a certain modicum of marks in a
special subject or two of examination."
Under the present system he maintains that the
military pupils are usually found low in schoolmarks,
for this very reason, that, a knowledge of classics not
being required, they calculate upon a few weeks'
"cram" to carry them through their military examina-
tions :

It would be a great gain to the army and to themselves
(continues Dr. Vaughan) if it were known that what is
required for a commission is a diligent and well•spent
boyhood; the army would then be officered, in part at
least, by the best instead of by the worst of our public
school pupils; and I doubt not they would be found in
two years after passing for their commission at least as
good, even in their special professional attainments, as
other young men who had made these at an earlier age
their one object.
Let, then, the topics of the first examination range
themselves under the most general beads of classics,
mathematics, modern languages, and history ; to which, if
it be thought desirable, might be added some elementary
trial in drawing and in the principles of fortification, to
such an extent as a boy at school might be supposed
capable of pursuing these two last-named subjects as an
accomplishment rather than a business. Let the candi-
dates do what they can in each of these branches of
examination, it being provided that in each there be ele-
mentary as well as more advanced questions. Let the
total number of marks obtained by each candidate in each