Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1860-06-29
Repor, Of the Maine Commissioners.

T. fis Hon 10 tierfrHcr dHd an. frothrf
CJurl' o' fis Nris - Nsias
The undersigned, Commissioners appoint
81 BY the Governor 70 proceed to Mas'aehu-
.s,t. and inquire into the character aud sH'
tent % tte alarming dlsoasc prevailing there
am5us cattle. and the means u be employed
Nr i,s prevention or cI,irpation, have At
tended to the service assigned them, and
respectfully rOpor,:
That We End the di.,as, called rleuro-
Pneumonia, existing m some orthc herds Of
Massachu.e,ts-ihat il was introduced
thther BY means Of cattle imported from
Holland by Winthrop W. Cheney, E.7.,
OF Belmont, and which arrived on The e9'h
Cav Of May. 1850 Two Of the four ami
mals thu. imported died soon after arrival ;
one vas noticed % b. 10 about the s0,h Of
June. and died in nine days after; the
fourth j. vet living sometime IN August
another COW 10 Mr. c. herd became sick,
and died IN about a fortnight, and ia the
courss ol the two subsequent months be lost
about thirty bead VI cattle BY the disease.
Veterinary surgeons we're called 10 from
time % time and tho mortality was, at ir';.
,.,rihoi to want o. proper ventilation ;
which vls. undoubtedly a serious cause OF
G.,rayation. bot thc true nature ol The ti'-
eass wa. not discovered until November,
when Dr. T. = Thayer. a skiiltul yctsriua-
~ surgeon. on visiting the herd, at once,
and unhcsitatinely pronounced il to be the
disease known 10 EurvPc as Pleuro-Pneo-
moniA aud here We may rcmark that this
name appears 90 - an unfortunate one, IN
Asmurh as u CONVEYS % thoso familiar with
the term, false a. well a. a true idea Of -
character. true. ia that both The luns' and
pleura are diseased and false, because this
disease dia,r, essentially from rlcuro-pnsg-
nonia proper. a. hitherto knswn both here
AMI abroad. and in both men and in brute
animals, and which i, les fatal i.ssase.
and ), no; contagious.
Mr.. Cbcusry's farm is 80 situated that We
~ little Communication has existed b'iween
bis cattle and tho-s Of others but on the
.gth Of Juus.-the very day on which the
COW died which Mr.. Cbsnsry BELIEVES %
have been the frst victim % the disease,
(the death of the two fr,t he ascribes ,9 To-.
juriss sustained during the vJyass,l be s3ld
three Dutch calves 70 Curtis Stodiarl, a
young farmer Of North Brookf,li On
their way thi,her ia the cars, one was no.
tlcol 70 filter. and soon it became quite ill,
and Mr.. Leonard Sioddarl. hthsr Si Cur.
ii,. took the calf home with him, % care
f5r it. and p,a,ci it ia a barn in which lie
kent forty head q cattle. I, grew worse
and To- a fw days ,hs 500 took 10 back, and
in ab0u, ten days &; died. ln about a ilrt-
nigh, The disease appeared in the herd Of
Leonard S,0diari. and on, after another ct
his animal, sIcksnci and died. la N1y,m-
tsr-and Iar reasons Independent of the dis
ea.,-y5uus StoIiari s5ll the larger PJr-
ton %! Dis herd. rcscryins nine Of tbe most
valuable animals. This ,als scattered eleven
IN yar,5l. directions. which carried the in.
fect..1 e.-r-r-r ,i,y rai'. aud one 0l them
/. s.,I o. have infected more than two hum
dreI other, wrhog, a single tilsr, ,Le
d.ssl.e followed these cattle.
Ayokso. oxen from ,hc heard Of Leon
al >,5Ilarl, va, employed Ia team ol
twenty. three yoke. gathered from various
quarter 90 NOV, a building from Oakham
10 North Br55kfs'l one pair % these oz-
On has since then, % changed owners ,ba,
it has not been traced. and nothing is known
OF 10 fate. bu, in srrry gii-r igV17-. 10 is
known that he animal. took tins disease.
Without dwelling upon numerous other
cases ia which con,asion can Do traced with
equal li,,inctucs.. it sufficient % ,ay, tha,
no ca.o 6. known 20 have occurred where
communication with diseased cattle cannot
De traced aud 6, b, believed that nOWhsrg
10 Europe has there been an opportunity Of
obtaining % eouvinsins evidence Of is cons
n:ilgs nature a' 10 Massachusetts,
~ with an other contagious diseases,
both anon. men and bru,e'. .oms iuIi,iiu-
a.. are found 20 30 ls.. susceptible in the
contagious influence than others, and some
are not affected BY it at al f, and doubts
have arisen IN the ainis of several Europe
On writers on this poiii. the weight %.
opinion b,ins. however, very strongly IN
favor % its contagious nature bot We sub.
NIT that the facts ia Massachusetts, are such
~ % pror, % lly0sd a rsl,5railc l1lk. W,
end ,hs disease to be n1; only contagious,
bui iu,.ii5u' and deceptive, malisnan, and
fatal. Isut,op', inasmuch a. It often cr,er,
upon an animal 50 stea',hily that IL /. dim
cult and Sometimes impossible 10 fx with
sny accuracy the date Of the attack De-
c,pnrc. IN that, In animals which have had
ihs disease and may Be fairly presumed from
0yp.arau-s 20 have recovered, one or both
lungs have been found. on slaughtsrin:
them, to Be li,,ls else than a solid mass O
disease
TIA; is is both malignant and fatal IN
happily needs no proof. N.arly one thou
,and animals have already fallen victims
either 70 the dissas, or 10 efforts made with
av.ev 70 its cz'irPation and more than AZ
additional thousand are either known 70 b,
s'ek or from haviD: been exposed ars under
the ban Of suspicion. IL 10 not true thai
the di''smPer IS universally fatal, Tor nOI
few survive that have been its subjects