The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-04 00:00:00

THE CATTLE DISEASE.

I The followingdescriptiou of the general symptoms
of the cattle disease called Rinderpest, drawn up by
Professor Seifmann, of the Veterinary College at
Warsaw, has been received in a despatch addressed
to Lord Russell by her Majesty's Consul-General at
that city :
" The Rinderpest was at first considered to be con-
fined to cattle, but it has, however, now been found
to extend to sheep, hitherto not with the same viru-
lence. The disease has invariably been introduced
into Poland by contagion, and has never, it is be-
lieved, been generated in this country, The conta-
gion has generally been introduced by the herds of
grey cattle which are imported from Bessarabia; for
the consumption of Poland alone the annual impor-
tation amounts to 30,000 head. The contagious
qualities of this disease exceed those of any known
disease of man or beast, and for this reason, when
once propagated it is extremely difficult to arrest its
progress. The contagion is conveyed not only by
infected cattle, but by those apparently sound, by
pigs, poultry, hides, manure, bones, offal, straw,
buildings, and the clothes of herdsmen or others ; in
fact, by every substance which has been in contact
with the diseased cattle. Abeast once infected rarely
recovers, so that the proportion of those which die
to those which recover is about 90 deaths to 10 re-
coveries. But few beasts exposed to the contagion
fail to catch the disease. On the other hand, all ex-
perience goes to show that a beast which has once
been attacked by the disease and recovers is never
infected a second time. When the disease made its
appearance the durationuntil the death of the animal
was about ten days ; it has latterly been more rapid
in its effects, and rarely exceeds five or six days from
the first symptoms.
" The usual symptoms as soon as the malady is at
all apparent are as follow :—The beast looks
wretched, eats less, the rumination either ceases or
becomes irregular, the coat stands out and loses its
gloss, the beast becomes nervous, constipation en-
sues, which turns to an offensive diarrhoea attended
with tenesmus and prolapsus ani. The animal's dung
has an offensive smell ; the animal shakes its head
frequently, and in some cases becomes violent ; a
low cough ensues, with a clear running at the eyes
and nostrils, while the saliva hangs about the mouth.
In many cases these last symptoms appear quite at
the commencement. As the disease makes progress
these secretions become thicker, the mucous mem-
brane, gums, mouth, &c., throw out pimples, the
running at the nose and eyes gives an offensive
smell, the eyes sink, the beast daily becomes thinner
and sometimes has a tendency to grind its teeth ;
towards the end the beast lies down with its head
turned upon one side and becomes exhausted, finally
dying without effort.

"At the autoposy of cattle, victims of this dis-
ease, may be observed the traces of all the above-
mentioned symptoms, such as the secretions about
the eyes and nostrils, the sunken eyes, &c. The
mucous membrane, and especially the fourth stomach,
present a marked change ; the mucous membrane is
highly charged with blood of a deep red colour and
partially swollen. In some places the mucous mem-
brane has lost the membrane epithelium,' or upper
tissue common to the mucous membrane, or is some-
tines clothed with coagulated exudations,which fall
off when touched, leaving the surface slightly de-
pressed. There is often a great accumulation of pulpy
food in the third stomach in a dry condition, which
filling up the stomach gives it a round appearance.
In consequence of this dryness of the food in the third
stomach this disease has been called in the Polish
language Ksizgosuoz from Ksiazka, a book, andin the
German Losserdarre—names badly assigned, as the
dryness is not an inevitable symptom ; on the con-
trary, sometimes the food contained in the digestive
organs is quite moist. The enlargement of the gall
bladder must be added-to other pathological changes;
it contains but thin gall, and is also highly charged
with blood. The mucous membrane of the other
organs undergoes less alteration ; the chief points,
however, in the latter are in the ' trachea,' which
swells so much as almost to obstruct the passage,
and in the anus, which becomes highly charged with
blood, and of a deep red colour.

" The:symptoms duringlife and subsequent patho-
logical changes which have been described in a popu-
lar rather than a professional manner must not be
considered as of invariable occurrence, and the
absence of any of them does not prove that the ani-
mal was not attacked by the genuine form of this
disease. It sometimes occurs that in whole
herds few or none of the affections about the eyes
and mouth are to be observed ; on the other hand,
symptoms not hithertomentioned have been noticed,
such as a remarkable sensitiveness in the loins, so
that if the beast be touched in that region it will
wince so as almost to sit down. One circumstance,
however, is proved beyond a doubt—namely, that
the disease is invariably transmitted by contagion,
and is never indigenous.
" All experience goes to prove that all remedies
for this disease are fallacious. Were the disease
absolutely curable, it is doubtful whether the pro-
cess, which would necessarily bring many persons
and substances in contact with the diseased beast,
would not be the means of transmitting so much
contagion that a greater loss would ensue than by
immediately slaughtering the diseased subject. Un-
der any circumstances, the utmost attention should
be paid to the veterinary police regulations ; and,
above all, quack remedies must be avoided, which
can but entail a very serious and probably increased
transmission of contagion, and have already exposed
so many countries to such severe losses. In the
kingdom of Poland a strict quarantine for cattle at
the frontier has been in practice more or less since
the year 1857. A system of mutual compulsory in-
surance has also been in operation, which provides
compensation for the compulsory destruction of
diseased cattle and also of those killed from precau-
tion. The above mentioned system has proved most
efficacious in Poland, and has doubtless contributed
enormously to check the disease. Whether such a
system would answer in a thickly populated coun-
try like England, and where the disease has taken
root in all directions, is a question for
those acquainted with that country to de-
cide. Probably the complete insulation of cattle and
districts under such circumstances would be attended
with the greatest difficulty. Under all circumstances
precaution against contagion is the only course to
be pursued. Inoculation with the disease has also
been practised it is, however, only of service to