The Sun.
London, England, 1866-01-17 00:00:00

Yesterday, at a meeting of the Commissioners of
Sewers, held at Guildhall, Dr. Letheby presented a
very voluminous and important report upon the
cattle plague. He commences by saying that the
most. remarkable event of the year 1865 had been
the prevalence of a frightfully fatal disease among
cattle, and that the malady was first seen in the
filthy cow-sheds of LOndon, where, if it was not ac-
tually generated, it was so intensified that its force
became irresistible, and it spread in all directions.
Hardly six months have elapsed since it appeared in
the metropolis, and yet it has reached the remotest
districts of Great Britain, and has travelled into
Holland, Belgium, and France. In this country
alone not less than 60,000 animals have been at-
tacked by it, and of these about 45,000 have died or
have been killed. It is the fatal murrain from the
steppes of Russia, and its proper home is in the
grassy steppes of Central Asia, where it is a coin -
mon endemic disease. The origin of the present
outbreak in England is most obscure, for although
it may be conceded that the disease is of a specific
origin, and has been imported into this country, it
is by no means certain how or when it came among
us ; and those who declare that it came here with a
cargo from Revel, in May last, have disregarded a
great number of very important facts which tend to
show that there is nothing to connect it with that
cargo. A probable source of the malady is with the
cattle imported from Holland, for it was 44 Dutch
cattle from the Metropolitan Cattle Market which
took the plague into Norfolk as early as the Ist of
July, and it was five Dutch cows from the same
market which infected Lord Granville's farm at
Child's-hill. But, let it have come to us whence it
may, it evidently found the cattle of this country
in a fit state to receive it, and no doubt it gained
strength in the unnatural condition of the cows in
the London dairies, for there it has been remarkably
fatal. Out of a total of about 16,000 cows in the 1,300
sheds of London there have been about 7,300 attacked,
and of these about 3,300 have died, and 3,100 have
been killed. According to the return of the East
London Cowkeepers' Association in November last
there had been 1,185 cows destroyed out of a total
of 4,873, and 2,749 had been sold at a large sacri-
fice. These numbers show that about 20 per cent.
of all the cows kept in London have actually died
from the disease, and nearly the same proportion
have been killed. There has, therefore, been a total
destruction of about 40 per cent. of all the cows in
London, and perhaps not less than 50 per cent. have
been sold for slaughter, either to avoid the disease,
or with the first symptoms of it in them. In all
England the returns from the Veterinary Depart-
ment of the Privy Council-office to the end of
December were as follows :—Attacked, 73,549 ;
died, 41,491 ; killed, 13,931 ; recovered, 7,045 ;
remaining, 11,082. The extent of its future pro-
gress can hardly be estimated, for with the present
mode of dealing with the disease it may remain with
us for years. At the last visitation, in 1745, it
stayed in the country for 12 years, and it destroyed
at least 200,000 animals, 160,000 of which died and
the rest were killed. The prospect before us, there-
fore, is not encouraging, and it is high time we
should review the knowledge we have gained and
apply it to the future. Remembering that it is an
imported disease, we are in constant danger of a
similar visitation, and the utmost vigilance should
be exercised at our places of import, the number of
which should be reduced to-one or two, having a
sufficient staff of skilful inspectors to supervise all
imported animals. All steppe cattle, or cattle from
suspected districts, should be subjected to ocilnro"n ,
tine or slaughteredu atin,elE --instead of the living
animals would be sent to the city markets. The
disease is frightfully contagious. The nature of the
infectious matter is not yet discovered, but it is, to
use the words of the Royal Commissioners, subtle,
volatile, and prolific in the highest degree. It is living
germinal matter, so minute that its particles are pro-
bably less than one hundred thousandth of an inch
in diameter. A single infected animal placed in a
public market, or permitted to travel along the
highway, may be the means of unlimited contagion.
As many as 200 diseased bullocks have been
exposed for sale at one time in the city market,
mixing with from 6,000 to 7,000 beasts, besides
from 30,000 to 40,000 sheep, and many hundreds
of calves and pigs ; whereas, if the disease is to be
checked, all traffic in live stock should be stopped,
all diseased animals isolated, and all infected sites
and vehicles disinfected. As regards the symptoms
of the disease, it is thought that the longest period
of incubation is nine days, and that a quarantine
of ten days is absolutely safe. In some cases of great
malignity the animals have died in from 12 to 14
hours after the commencement of the attack, but
in most cases the disease is protracted to the fifth or I
sixth day, and occasionally to the eighth and ninth.
In some places, where the nature of the disease was
not recognised, and the animals were let alone, the
mortality was only 50 per cent. This was so in the
outbreak among the Dutch cattle at Mr. Leed's
farm in Norfolk, where out of 26 cows that were
attacked 13 recovered. During the first two months
of the visitation of the disease in Holland, 3,319
animals were infected, and of these 1,169 died and
674 were slaughtered. This is at the rate of 55 per
cent. In 1862 the number of cattle attacked by the
plague in the Austrian dominions was 296,000, of
which 152,000 died. This is only about 51 per cent.
Again, in the year 1863, when the disease invaded
Galicia and overran the whole kingdom of Hungary
and its dependencies, 14 per cent. of the cattle took
the disease, but the average mortality in Hungary
was not above 65 per cent. In Russia, also, during
the year 1864, 159,476 cattle were attacked, and
104,714 died or were killed. This, also, is only at
the rate of 66 per cent. ; but in London, where the
mortality has been great, and the slaughter still
greater, the loss has been raised to 87 per cent.,
while in all England the death's have only been 56
per cent., and the total loss 75 per cent. There is
no actual cure for the malady; but there are means
of assisting nature in the progress of the disease and
of supporting the vital powers. These are the ex-
pectant measures of rational medicine. They only
operate as defensive agents against the weakening
influences of the disease, but they may turn the
hesitating scale and give victory to nature, and they
arc best applied in the early stages of the disorder,
when the system has not been much weakened by
the attack. A warm stable, with good ventilation
and nourishing drinks, are the first among the
palliative remedies. Dry foods are especially to be
avoided. Diluted alcoholic drinks and the prepara-
tions of ether and ammonia are recommended.
e lnaddition to this the action of the skin should b
pro-
'noted by warmth, by brisk rubtwelg,as indnbtyhteheeaurlsye
of mild diaphoretics. As the
stage of the disorder are somewhat constipated, a
gentle laxative, as sulpburorfolrinstehede oil, play be
advantageously given, and
diarrhoea the best remedyls
a desirecilalkanmo
and
Lastly, when the animal shows reaflO.oo
Dr.opium.
Lastly,
should be cautiously fed on easily digestible sub-
• •
stancesLeatshebboy appears iled
to coincide the opinion of
carrots, or turnips, or f
presents the
analogy strongest
to smallpox, aid that, as small-
pox in the
Dr.
subjectMurchhisuolonang,aynthat di
t ismseaadsee
less severe by
at
also it may be possible to induce a
mildercin formiothe cattle plague by passing it
vaccination, so
of
through the system of another animal. He thinks
it very probable that in the early stage of the dis-
order, before the more decided symptoms of fever
have shown themselves, the flesh of the diseased
animal may not be unfit for human food, but he
is of opinion that it would be very dangerous to
permit the unrestricted use of such meat in all
Stages of the disease. He then proceeds to show
that in almost every part of the world the regu-
lations for the sale of meat, the inspection of
cattle, and the management of markets and slaugh-
ter-houses, are far more stringent and precise than

they are in London, and he expresses a hope that
the experience gained by the present outbreak of
disease will lead to reformation in most of these par-
,. ,

titulars. He strongly advocates the pressingne-
cessity which exists for the removal of all the
slaughterhouses from the city. There are 58 of

these slaughterhouses iu the city, and they receive
about 5,400 sheep, 1,800 beasts, 420 pigs, and4oo

calves every week.

All theseanimalsmustbedriven

;hrough the crowded streets, and the dung, and blood,