Baltimore daily commercial. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1865-1867, 1866-02-23
THE CATTLE PIAGuE.


US from Pennsylvania through the public
prints, that the dreaded cattle plague has
broken out in that State, and if, further, it
should prove of the same malignant type as
that exhibited at present in England and
other portions of the old world, it is certainly
a most terrible and formidable infection. If
over there, where they have so much greater
facilities for guarding against infection-being
military governments essentially, with from
tiers strictly watched-if there they have been
utterly unable to limit the march of this de-
structive plague, the case may be considered
q thousand fold worse here, where the general
freedom from restraint or intercourse throws
the whole continent open as it were to the
range of whatever visitant presents itself, the
limit OF its stay being determined only by the
amount of material it may find to feed upon
And that it is an evil, which next to cholera
or other diseases which attack the human
race, is of the very first magnitude, the facts
certainly prove. Noting the fact that so far in
the history of the cattle plague, every remedy
tried seems utterly powerless as a cure, and
we may then know how discouraging it must
be to contemplate its possible presence, and
how alive the community should be to take
some care to prevent its dissemination. In
England, for instance, with the determination
to test every kind of treatment, and with the
means to do it, they have resorted to medi-
cines as expensive as port wine, brandy, Gallo
mel, and so on, and with no perceptible good
Go { hoi IL
sweeping in its effects, it behooves all owning
cattle to be on the alert, and by doing the one
thing alone which offers any chance to re-
strict its ravages, keeping their cattle from
contact nth Others stay its visitations to the
extent that is possible.
Like many other inflictons of the kind, the
plague in question is no new thing; but like
the cholera and other terrors which seem to
sweep over the earth at long intervals, defying
all calculations as to their range and duration,
this disease has been ravaging Europe for
past centuries, as defiant now after all subse-
quent discoveries in sanitary regulations and
medical science, as in the past. Aroused by
the presence of so great an evil the British
Parliament, backed by all the learning of the
realm, has been of late on the alert; and spar
ing no pains in investigating its origin and
tendencies, we find dragged to the surface the
history of every visitation of the kind that has
happened for hundreds of years, whether in
England or on the continent.
And as matter of commanding interest to
the agricultural community, especially al
though its ultimate results may possibly reach
every household in the land, we propose to
give brief synopsis of what has been pre-
scented to the English public through an ex-
haustive article in late number of the North
British Rerier. By it, we learn that as early
as the years 1348-1349, a terrible cattle plague
swept England, attempts being made then, as
now, to conGne the diseased cattle, to prevent
their spreading the infection, and with little or
no avail The great remedy unsparingly re-
sorted to by "Order of Council was to kill
every suspected animal and bury them deep
in the earth, the only chance that offered to
''stamp out'' the disease. From 1745, at in
tervals, to the close of the last century, it oc-
casionally visited England, remaining in the
country for twelve years at the latter period
the fatal characteristics measurably the same.
Turning to the continent-as the history of
the plague is given in the article referred to-
we find that it would be a tedious account TO
give the numerous visitations by which central
Europe, especially, has suffered; suffice it,
that apparently originating and being always
present in the herds Of Russia, Hungary and
the region generally adjoining the Black Sea-
the evil is constantly finding its way to q
greater or less extent to the countries which
import cattle from those districts. Seattle
for immediate slaughter are admitted into
Poland after three days quarantine; but lean
cattle and those destined for expectation,
undergo twenty one days detention.''
A foot note to the article in the Reric,r
tells us-that america, indeed claims credit
"for having extirpated the plague recently in
Massachusetts; but on reading the descrip-
''tion, it is clear that this aods not the rinde-
pest, but plearo-pneumoaia."
In the visitation which occurred in England
in 1851 and subsequent years, it is stated that
Gin the second year of the plague, 100, 900
head of cattle persisted in Lincolnshire: in
the third year Noting hamshire lost. 40, 900
and Cheshire 10000, while many other coun-
ties suffered in similar proportion"
And now for description of the infection
such as may be Of use in enabling cattle own
ers to detect it, if identical in character with
the English plague. OF three accounts given.
describing the disease, the ReDieW prefers that
nf Nv I
1.-The first appearance of this infection is a
Floss of appetite; poking out of the neck,
Implying some difficulty in deglutition
"shaking of the head as if the ears were
"tickled, a hanging down of the ears, dull
''ness of the eyes. After that stupidity and
''unwillingness to move, great debility, total
Gloss of appetite, a running at the eyes and
"nose, constant diarrhea, roofs of their
"mouths and barbs liberated. They groan
"much are worse in the evening, and mostly
"he down."
We have given this subject consideration in
our columns, because there are few of more
importance to our city and State, supposing
there is no mistake about the accounts Chat
have reached us from Pennsylvania and in
consideration, also, of the possibility that
exists, that if the dreaded plague has not al
ready been imported into this country from
abroad, that the possibility exists that it may
be. When we note that despite every remedy
possible, 80 per cent. of all the cattle attacked
in England have persisted, we begin to have
some conception of the hopelessness of COM
batting it, and the uneasiness that must assail
the farmer who finds it amongst his herds
So fatal has it proved, and so much dreaded
abroad has been the contagion, that in the
Papal States about the year 171l, orders were
given to bury the carcasses of the infected
twelve feet under ground" and to "slash
the hides so that they might not be used by
the tanner at the risk of disseminating still
further the contagion.
We trust that in the case at hand, the same
mistake may have occurred as in that alleged
of Massachusetts; and that after all, the real
cattle plague, has not reached this country
Transmitted over Europe by railway commu-
nication, by steamers from the continent to
England and so on, we have the broad Allan
tic betwixt us on which to base our hopes of