Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-11-14
NUMBER 80.
THE EPIZOOTIC DISTEMPEl,.
How 1t Affects Man-VVhat tho Conn n, Z =.
sioner Of Agriculture Say IS About Il.

: THE EPlZOOTIC DISTEMPER.
sioner OF Agriculture says About It.
, In the annual report of the Commi
sioner of Agriculture there is an inte
esting and valuable article on til
epizootic aphth@, which broke ont j
this country in 1870. It says tn:
though no unbroken chain of evidene
concerning the source of that outbrea
is forthcoming, NO one acquainted wit
the nature OF the disease can for q M
ment doubt that it was imported fro1
Europe. Though certainly prevailin
in Central Europe for nearly two Ger
turies, it reached Great Britain only i
1889, Denmark in 1841, aud Americ
in 1870. No atmospheric or climat
changes would account for such results
Diseases like influenza, which appea
to.be due to such .vicissitudes, swee
over simultaneously, or nearly go
our continents and islands, an,
even ships in mid ocean; where
as this is circumscribed for cen
turies by narrow sea or a well-guarde.
neck OF land, and crosses only whe
the victims are allowed to pass. More
over, in each of these cases definit
importation can be traced. Cattl
shipped from. an English port i,
August showed signs Of the diseas
when two days at sea, and landed an
parently well, but conveyed 1T to til,
stock among which they were placed OF
their arrival in Canada. Whether i
spread from this point, or whether
there was another importation, there
is no evidence to show. Its existence
was reported at Oriskany, Oneida
county, in September, about the time
of the State Agricultural show at Utica,
supposed to have been brought by
Canadian cattle, but subsequent in.
quiry has failed to afford anything
more than report for this alleged ori.
gin. At different times from the 18th
OF November to the 7th of December
it was brought into Duchess county
by five separate droves from ALBANY.
which had been carried east on the
New York Central Railroad. Il pre-
vailed extensively, and caused great
losses at Armenia, Pawling, South Do
yer. Dover Plains, and La Grange.
From Duchess county it was conveyed
into Connecticut, and spread widely
in New Milford, Kent aud Sherman.
1t was also conveyed to the valley of
the Connecticut river, and spread in
the towns of Hadley, Northampton
and East Hampton. The disease was
also conveyed to Brighton, Mass,
and spread extensively around Bos-
ton, Concord, Ipswich, Newburyport,
Acton, etc., reaching some points in
New Hampshire; :
The only cause of itself capable of
inducing the disease is contagion or
contact of sound animal with the
virus discharged from the sores OF an
aphthous patient. Many accessory
causes may be named, such as a wet,
muddy season, which insures the con-
tact of the virus deposited on the soil
with the skin about the tops of the
hoofs; the accumulation of cattle in
large fairs or markets; travel of stock
by rail or road, and the like. Yet these
are but means of the diffusion of the
poison, while no one of them, nor all
taken together. can call the disease
into existence where the poison is not
already present. Though present in
Europe during or after almost every
great war since 1875, it did not
reach Great Britain until 1889, when it
was brought by Dutch cattle imported
into London. In 184i II is
first reported in Denmark. \
The list of real causes is narrowed
down to the simple contact of the virus
with healthy animal. It is often car
ried on the clothes, boots and hands of
men; on the fibres of hay or straw;
preserved on the walls, floors, managers
and other fittings of buildings; ON sta
ble uter sils; in yards, packs, roads
and railroad cars on drinking troughs:
Or it may be carried on the legs or bod
les of dogs, chickens. rats and other
while themselves escape. the
infection. In short, any solid body
may retain and be bearer of this con-
tagion. s>< =. :
y +
Its transmission to man has been no.
Iced during almost every great out.
break sincethat of 1885,: It has been
among others, by Valentine,
Xeirtsky, Kolb. Hesturg,
Rayer, Bosunet, Loude, Sevigny, Dun
aressy, Hubner, Holmes, Balfour, Kar-
kee, and Watson. Cases of the disease
in man were seen in Albany and at
South Dover, Duchess county, N. Y,
during the outbreak of 1870. It shows
itself in man by slight feverishness,
and the formation on the tongue and
inside the lips and cheeks, and some
lines of the head, of small blisters,
rarely amounting to the bulk of fen
Ill. In children and young animals
[eeding exclusively on milk, dirrahoea
md fatal Inflammation of the stomach
md bowels occasionally supervene. On
chickens it has been frequently noticed
others by Hennicke, Lagar,
Lamberlecchi, Dickens and Youatt.
Chickens were attacked in December,
1870, on the farm of Mr.. Eighms, La
Grange, Dutchess county, N. 7. Drink
ing the castaway milk is probably the
common cause. Dogs and cats have
been noticed by Lagar, Younghus-
band, and others to suffer from drink
ing: the milk.
~ Al> Ccos-S~V