The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-13 00:00:00

IMPERIAL MEXICAN (LIMITED).

The gross traffic received on this company's line
between Vera Cruz and Paso del Macho, 47 miles
in length, amounted for the month of April to
£6,995, for the month of May to £8,481, and for
the month of June to £8,412, making together
£28,888, being at the rate of £39 per mile per
week.

The Cattle Disease.

The following documents have been prepared by
direction of the Lords of the Privy Council, and for-
warded to us for publication :
Memorandum on the Principles and Practice of Disinfec-
tion, as applicable to the present Epidemic of Cattle Disease.
By J. L. W. Thudichum, M.D.
I.—PRINCIPLES OF DISINFECTION.

1. The term disinfection signifies the removal and de-
struction, or destruction and subsequbntremoval of thepro-
ducts of destruction, of all matters actually being or con-
taining products of disease capable of reproducing disease
in other animals.
2. If the same processes and means, as used for this pur-
pose, are applied to the purification and deodorisation of
places and things not actually affected, but capable or sus-
pected of being infected, then these preventive measures
are practically and properly included under the definition
of disinfection.
3. The reproducers of the infectious matter or contagion
are all kinds of cattle of the ox tribe, which also are at pre-
sent in this country the only animals liable to its specific
effects. It is probable that the contagion adheres with par-
ticular pertinacity to all secretions and discharges from
animals. For this reason fences or droppings, urine, rumi-
nated food, all secretions from the mouth, nose, and eyes,
and any sore parts of the surface of the diseased animals
must be considered as the principal and primary carriers of
the infectious matter or plague poison. It is also probable
that many parts of animals which have died from the cattle
plague, or have been killed during advanced stages of the
disease, are infections, some because they are primarily im-
bued with the contagion, others because they have been in
contact with it after the death of the animal. Skins, hides,
hair, horns, and hoofs must therefore always be treated
with precaution. The chances of infection by flesh, fat,
cleaned guts, and blood are perhaps more remote, but can-
not be lost sight of.
4. The cattle plague, although affecting every part of the
animal, showing its visible effects most extensively in the
intestinal canal. It is believed, and apparently upon good
grounds, that the intestinal discharges are the principal
agents, upon the distribution of which mainly depends the
spread of the disorder.
5. It follows from the above, that all articles which have
been in contact with a diseased animal, or any of its dis-
charges, particularly its faeces, are capable of carrying the
infection for an infinite time, and must be looked upon as
being actually infectious to other healthy animals. Such
are, racks of wood or iron ; cribs or mangers of wood, iron,
or stone ; articles used for fastening animals, leather collars
and straps, ropes and chains, all harness of any animals
used for drawing, and all carts, waggons, and carriages
which they have actually been drawing ; the stalls or sheds
in which animals have been standing; the whole lengths of
the gutters and drains through which their urine has been
flowing ; the entire surface over which their manure has
been drawn, and all implements with which the removal
has been effected; the entire dung-heap upon which infected
manure has been put, and the fluid contents of the manure
pit, or of the special receptacle for the urine ; yards or
sheds in which cattle have been kept to tread down long
straw, and the whole of such straw and manure, as also the
ground beneath them; paths and roads upon which diseased
cattle have walked or been carried ; fields and meadows
upon which they have been grazing ; all carts, carriages,
trucks, and. railway trucks in which diseased cattle
have been conveyed, and all the platforms, rail-
ings, bridges, and boards upon which they have been
moved thereto ; as also all apparatus which has been used
to pen, tie, lift, haul, lower, and fix them; the clothes, and
particularly shoes and boots, and iron-pointed sticks of
drivers, and their dogs ; the apparel of all cattle-herds or
attendants, particularly their shoes and boots ; the shoes
and boots of all persons visiting places where diseased cattle
are or have been standing ; and, in general, the clothes of
all persons visiting infected places, ships, and all parts of
the platforms, stages, stairs, and bridges, hoists and cranes
used for embarking and landing the animals ; markets, and
all sheds and pens and implements used in contact with
cattle ; slaughter houses, and all persons and implements
in them which have been employed upon sick cattle, as also
sundry parts or organs which come from sick animals killed
in slaughter houses; knackers' yards, trucks, or carts,
horses, men and implements which have b3en employed
in the disposal of sick or dead animals; wells and ponds
from which diseased cattle have been drinking, or into
which any portion of their excreta has had any opportunity
of flowing directly or indirectly ; all fodder, grass, hay,
straw, clover, &c., and particularly remnants d fodder
upon which diseased cattle have been- feeding ; and, yin
general, all persons, animals, places, buildings, and move-
able things which have been in contact with matters pro-
ceeding from diseased cattle, or with such diseased cattle
themselves. To the above-mentioned places and things
any of the processes and agents enumerated and described
in the following may have to be applied.
11. PRACTICE OF DISINFECTION.
- _ _

Disinfection by Earth. 1. Burying—All matter that
can be buried so as to remain covered with a thick layer
of ground on earth are innocuous. The ground chosen for
such interment should be dry. The quickest, and
cheapest, and most certain way of disinfecting an animal
dead from the plague is to bury it entire.

2. The droppings, and all straw and other matters conta-
minatm tliarn.. Leh may 141 W UtrIJIL ild(1 lIIL4J g (mina wnere
they arc not likely to be disturbed for a long time. The
places from which such droppings have been removed to be
cleaned and disinfected as will be described below.
3. 3tanu6 heaps and the down trodden manure of cattle
yards, if they have become infected by even a small quan-
tity of the droppings of a diseased animal, should be care-
fully shifted to a piece of ground, and there be transformed
into compost heaps. A layer of manure one or two feet in
thickness should be covered all over with six inches of dry
earth, ashes, and mineral rubbish ; upon this another layer
of manure may be placed, and then 'again a layer of earth,
and so forth, until the whole of the manure is stacked—it
should be covered over with a continuous layer of earth of
from six inches to one foot in thickness. If the manure
heap or yard manure cannot be shifted, it may be covered
on the spot with a layer of dry earth, after which all ani-
mals are to be kept away from it.
4. If the floor of any shed or stable in which diseased
cattle have been standing,is not constructed with special
watertight and impenetrable material, it must be assumed
to be infected to the depth of at least six inches. This
ground should therefore be removed, together with any
stones, pavements, or wood work which have been in
contact with it, carted to a piece of dry land and buried.
Half rotten wood is a particularly favourable carrier of in-
fection. Mortar, bricks, loam, or any other lining of the
sides of a pen.in which a deceased animal has been stand-
ing, should be broken out and buried.
Disinfection by Fire. 1. Burning.—All infected articles
of a minor value, or made of incombustible materials, can
be disinfected by exposing them to a heat which will char
organic matter. To this class of articles may be reckoned
racks of wood or iron ; cribs or mangers of wood, iron, or
stone ; leather collars and straps, ropes and chains ; dry
manure, residue of fodder from which diseased cattle have
eaten.; 'and all such small articles of little value which can
easily be replaced by new ones. Chains may be exposed
to a dull red heat ; all other articles may be heated over a
fire of coal, brushwood, or straw until well scorched. All
new articles of ironware should be bought in a galvanised
state, to prevent the formation of rust, the accumulations
of which form convenient seats for infectious matter, and
for the same purpose it is desirable that iron articles which
have been disinfected by heat as aboVe should afterwards
be either galvinised, or, at least, while hot be treated with
resin, to cover them with a durable varnish, or should be
varnished or painted.

Disinfection by Chloride of Lime.--Chloride of lime, or
bleaching piwder, is the most powerful, the cheapest, and
most easily managed of all artificial disinfectants. It can
be had everywhere, and at any time, and in quantities suf-
ficient for every purpose. It should as much as possible
be applied in solution, of a strength varying somewhat
with the particular purpose for which it is to be employed,
and after it has been allowed to act upon the surface or
matter to be disinfected a reasonable time, should be
washed off, together with all products of decomposition.
As chloride of limo does not destroy only the infectious
matter in a mixture, but destroys all organic matter with-
out distinction, it is not applicable to large quantities of
matter, such as the manure of cattle, dung heaps, &c., in-
asmuch as twice or three times the weight of these matters
of chloride of lime would be required for their effectual
destruction and disinfection. It is further inapplicable to
all matters rich in ammonia, particularly putrid urine, as
it destroys the ammonia, and evolves a -large amount of
gases, some of which have a repugnant odour, and are
perhaps not quite innocuous. But for the disinfection of
surfaces of things and places no better or more suitable
agent than chloride of lime is at present known to science.
Special Directions for the Disinfection of Stables, Sheds,
Vans, Railway Trucks, and Cattle Shipst and of Persons
and things connected with them.-1. After such a place has
been cleaned by mechanical means, scraping, &c., as much
as possible, and all manure and dirt has been carefully
buried, the entire surface which has been contaminated, or
is likely to have been contaminated, should be covered
with a layer of chloride of lime in powder. The powder
should be worked about with a broom until equally distri-
buted. It is intended to disinfect the water to be used in
the washing process which is now to commence. Clean
water, from a hose in which it flows under pressure, or
from a force-pump, garden engine, or from large watering
pots or water cans, or poured freely from buckets, should
now be applied to the entire surface by one person, while
another at the same time scrubs the entire surface, and
particularly all crevices, joints, and irregularities. The
washing water and chloride of limo are then to be worked
down the gutters, into the sinks, cesses, or natural water-
courses. No washing water from an infected place or thing
should ever be allowed to flow into any cesspool, urine-
hold, dung-heap, pond, sewer, or natural watercourse with-
out having previously been mixed and stirred with a liberal
amount of chloride of lime. When the place has thus
been scrubbed until the water flows off clean, it is ready
for effectual disinfection.

2. For this purpose a solution of chloride of lime in
water, in the proportion of one pound of the powder to one

* For the disinfection of railway trucks and cattle ships
see special memorandum. •