The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-16 00:00:00

.£19,000,000
So that only about a thirty-third fractional part, or
less than eighteenpence in the pound, of this large
sum of transactions was effected in what would
commonly be called cash. The pettiness, so to
speak, of the sphere in which alone coin and Bank
notes are used could not be made more evident, and
any one who considers these instructive figures will
have no difficulty in understanding that a very
great augmentation could take place in the business
of Lombard-street without any appreciable increase
in the active circulation of notes and sovereigns.
These three causes would not have caused so great an
effect if they had come at an ordinary time, but
they fell upon a perid predisposed to aggravate their
consequences, as we have so often shown. The
capital market of the country is in an unusually
delicate state. The investments in which it has
been embarked, especially in 1874, though not above
its strength, were sufficient for its strength, and the
new companies, whose characteristic use is to act as
borrowing brokers for other nations, are sure to
keep us low, as far as their credit extends, and
begin to act with effect so soon as the rate
of interest has long been low. As we have
said, the trade of many districts has been ra-
pidly starting forward. In the early part of Octo-
ber, any cause for creating an unusal demand for
capital was sure to produce an uncommon effect.
Unhappily, the cash market, if we may so speak,
was more delicate still. The reserve of notes, which
in 1863 ranged from £8,500,000 to £6,400,000,
without producing an important effect, has now
fallen from £6,600,000 to £4;9001 000, and the result
is what we see. So soon as the reserve of notes is
under £5,000,000 the public begin to feel nervous,
if not alarmed, and the Bank Directors have learned
by severe experience that it behoves them to act
promptly and effectually. These influences acting
upon a world so predisposed to receive them are
quite enough to explain the rise in the rate of dis-
count. How far these influences are due to irreme-
diable nature, and how far to improvable policy or
alterable legislation, we shall discuss in our nex
issue.

The Cattle Plague.

EDINBURGH.

An interim report on this subject has been pre•
sented to the Lord Provost and magistrates of Edin-
burgh by the Medical Committee, lately appointed
by them to investigate the causes and symptoms of
rinderpest, and the means of prevention and cure.
The report is signed by Dr. Andrew Wood, the
chairman, and may be regarded as embodying
the best available skill of the medical and veteri-
nary colleges of Edinburgh. The following is an
abstract of its conclusions :
"1. That the disease is communicated by contagion
from diseased to healthy cattle, and apparently by conta-
gion alone. 2. That the poison of rindorpest is a specific
poison, which filth may intensify but cannot generate. 3.
That the question whether the contagion can bepropagated
by inoculation remains to be tested. 4. That the poison,
as in other zymotic diseases, is introduced chiefly by means
of inhalation into the lungs, from which it passes into the
blood, where it multiplies itself, and is thence carried to
every tissue and organ of the body. 5. That it seems
probable that infection may be carried by the poison ad-
hering to the clothes of persons in attendance on the dis-
eased cattle. 6. That the liability of sheep to take rinder-
pest, or to carry infection, is being submitted to tests in
this city, which may be regarded as decisive. 7. That,
oven during unsuspected incubation, infected animals may
communicate the disease to others. 8. That the period of
incubation generally lasts for six or seven, but may extend
to 10 or 14, or even to 21 days. 9. That there is a great
risk under present circumstances in bringing together
droves of cattle, as at fairs or markets, as animals may
communicate infection which yet show no outward symp-
toms of the disease. 10. That fairs and markets for the
sale of lean or store cattle ought to be for the present sus-
pended, and the greatest caution should be exercised in
regard to the traffic in fat cattle, and where markets for
fat cattle are unavoidable, they should bo held twice a
week, so that the cattle purchased by butchers may be
slaughtered without delay. 11. The committee are de-
cidedly of opinion that cases of rinderpest may and ought
to be treated with a view to cure ; that the disease, if seen
in its earlier stages, is amenable to treatment, and that
even where the symptoms have become serious, the case
is not to be looked upon as hopeless or its treatment
abandoned. 12.
i That the disease may be expected to be-
come milder in its type and more tractable after it had
lasted some time, and the proportion of deaths will become
notably diminished ; 13. That the committee deprecate and
strongly protest against the indiscriminate slaughter re-
commended, and to a large extent acted upon throughout
the country ; 18. That it is of the greatest importance that
persons attending on cattle should be conversant with the
earliest symptoms of the disease, and be on the look-out to
detect it."

The report proceeds to specify the symptoms and
pathological conditions of the infected animals ; and,
remarking that, rinderpest is a disease of low type,
and the tendency to death is by exhaustion, so that
violent and lowering treatment is wholly inadmis-
sible, the report proceeds to offer the following as a
safe and simple mode of treatment, which has led
to recoveries under their own eyes, and which seems
worthy of a fair and extensive trial : _

" 18: The animal should as soon as the disease is detected
be separated from other cattle and placed in a comfortable
outhouse, byre, loose box, or stable, well ventilated, but
not cold. If wooden sheds bo used, they should be so con-
structed as to admit of being easily kept warm—say at a
temperature of about 70 degrees. The greatest attention
must, of course, be paid to cleanliness. The manure should
be frequently removed, and all of it submitted to the action
of disinfectants, of which the best is the chloride of lime
(bleaching powder).

"19. It is of groat importance to promoto the circulation
of the skin and to restore the natural heat of the surface.
For this purpose the animal should be carefully and vigo-
rously rubbed down, and then covered with a warm rug.
Warm drinks of gruel, bran teal or hay tea, should be
copiously administered, and these should constitute tho
only food of the animal in the early stags. The animal,
which is generally thirsty, may be allowed as much cold
water as it wishes. Stimulant diaphoretics, and diuretics,
will also be found useful as tending to promote the action of
the skin and kidneys;and thus to relieve internal congestion,
and to aid in eliminating the poison of the disease from

£1,483,496
The difference between this year and 1863 does not,
of course, exactly coincide with the amount of the
Irish demand. But £lOO,OOO or so is of no mo-
ment in such calculations as the present. And it
1 is very possible that more coin may have gone to
Ireland than is known. Very much larger sums
that are constantly added to and constantly taken
from both the note circulation and the coin
without exciting remark or being susceptible of
explanation. It is to be observed that this Irish
demand, though ultimately a demand for coin only,
also lowers the reserve of votes. To get the coin
the Irish banks, by the sale of securities or other-
wise, first obtain a credit at the banking department,
then change that credit into notes, then cash those
notes at the issue department, and this additional
cause amply explains why the demand for notes in
1865 is greater than in 1863. This Fenian disturb-
ance is an influence, happily infinitesimally slight,
acting on the credit of the country, and the
periodical demand for circulation is a cause acting
on the cash and coin of the country, but there
has been a larger cause in operation acting on
our capital. This is the cotton speculation.
This affects the rate of discount in the simplest
of all ways ; it brings new bills and securities into
Lombard-street. The man who . wishes to buy
cotton must get a credit at his bankers to buy it
with, and he must raise that credit by borrowing
upon or selling some property. Accordingly, during
the first ten days of October there was a sudden
access of bills into Lombard-street, conspicuously
evinced by the rise in the private securities, to which
we last week very pointedly drew attention. It is
known to every person who has studied the subject
how wholly separate this demand for discount is
from the demand for actual cash. But it is not
often easy to set it before common persons by an
effective illustration. It so happens, however, that
a few weeks since a very clear and concise paper
was read by Sir John Lubbock before the Statistical
Society, which gives almost exactly the information
required. Sir John Lubbock examined £19,000,000
of payments by the London customers of the Bank
and found that they were effected as follows :
By cheques and bills £18,395,000
Bank notes
408,000
Country ditto
Coin
118,000