The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1886-07-10
Glle Sarmer,
Contagious Pleuro Pneumonia.

A Talk Before the Deer Greek Farmers Club
of Hartford County, Nd, January, 1886,
bv VIM. H. Martenet, d. 7. S.
[ desire, before | enter into the depths
my subject, to call your attention to the great
importance that the contagious diseases of
our domestic animals really bear to the pubic
health and the financial interests of our
country. 1t has long been matter of fact
that there are many diseases of animals that
can be transmitted to man, both by contact
with the animal as in handling horses and
milking COWS affected with certain diseases,
or in the eating of flesh and drinking of
milk containing poisonous germs or para
sites, and therefore totally unfit for food.
Very little attention is paid to such thoughts
as these, as general rule, until the danger
is acuteiy portrayed by seeing or hearing of
some one suffering from disease contracted
in this very way. How often do those
who closely read the daily or weekly papers
notice instances of entire families Frustrated
and dying from trichinosis, disease but
slightly less terrible than hydrophobia,
which is caused by the presence of minute
parasites, the hichind spirdliS, in the human
system, and manifests itself by excruciating
pains in the bowels and muscles, the result
of the burrowing of the parasites in seeking
place suitable for implanting themselves.
1t was the presence of trichina in American
pork that caused Germany to put an en-
barge on our pork trade with her, thus
causing great loss and falling off in ex-
ports to that country and engendering petty
angry feelings between the two govern
ments
Again, tuberculosis or consumption of the
lungs, scarlet fever and typhoid fever can
be mentioned as being transmitted to man
in the milk of COWS; in fact, violent cpl
denies of scarlet fever in children have
been traced down to the starting point, and
found to have emanated from the COWS fur
nishing the milk that the children had been
fed upon. The death of many children
can no doubt be attributed to the impurity
and diseased condition of milk used for
food, and the pallid faces and stunted forms
of many more bear witness to the effects of
attacks on their systems by the same pois-
onous influences. There are many other
diseases that may be contracted by the in
gestion of flesh and milk, and among them
many common ones that, although they may
not Immediately endanger life, eventually
undermine the system to such an extent
that they finally cause death indirectly.
The tape-worm is a parasite that takes its
beginning from parasite called the cysti-
oercus that is taken into the body in the
flesh of the beef or pig, each of which a
variety infests. 1t is not necessary to de-
scribe the misery that one of them can cause
by its presence in the human intestines.
THE IMMENSE LOSSES BY CATTLE DISEASE.
When we consider the enormous losses
each year of cattle from contagious diseases,
we can readily see the relation they bear to
the finances of the country. The entire
number of cattle owned at the present time
in the United States is materially the same
as it was ten years ago, showing no immense
increase, as should be when the increase in
the number of stockraisers and the amount
of reclaimed grazing lands is taken into
consideration. This can be attributed to
the presence of contagious diseases in the
herds, depicting them in one part of the
country by anthrax Commonly called
black leg or quarter ilD and in the other
part by contagious pleuro-pneumonia. Ac-
oording to special report No. y, U. S. De-
partment of Agriculture, for 1879, the total
amount of losses from contagious and in
fictitious diseases for 1879 summed up to
S16,653, 428; and as nearly ten years have
elapsed since then, and these diseases have
rapidly spread over large districts, and con-
sequently caused more mortality, the losses
will very nearly amount to S25 ,000, 900
per annum. Should these figures not be
sufficient to impress upon the public mind
the danger of allowing these diseases to
progress in virulence until they spread over
the entire country, thus involving the en-
tire live stock industry of the country?
THE FOREIGN TRADE IN CATTLE.
The United States has a great trade with
foreign countries in the shipment of live
and if the diseases now prevalent be allowed
to run on unchecked, this great item of our
commerce may be entirely blotted out for
years to come. England is comparatively
free from any contagious diseases among
her domestic animals, and she is only kept
so by strict system of veterinary police
and inspection. An instance of the care
taken is shown, to our modification, in the
disposal of cattle landed from the United
States. All cattle on being landed are
driven into stables on the docks, and kept
there but a short time, while undergoing a
careful inspection; they are then slaughtered
in houses also on the docks, and the lungs
and other viscera are also rigidly inspected
for LESSONS of contagious pleuro-pneumonia
and other diseases. The expectation of
live cattle into England is therefore impos-
si5le, as every animal has to be slaughtered
on the docks before the consignees can OBJ
tain them, and then they are, as rule, in
very poor condition, after the rigors of a
voyage across the ocean in the close quar-
tiers Of steamship.
MARYLAND GUARANTEED FROM OTHER
STATES.
Especially should the farmers and stock
breeders of Maryland become interested in
this subject, since, as is shown in Governor
Lloyd's message to the present Legislature
I'VE find ourselves quarantined by nearly
all the states'and territories west of the Mis-
sissippi river; and by the states of Illinois,
Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan
east of said river. This quarantine is
placed on us because we have pleuro-pneu-
monia among us; in fact, We are known as
the hotbed of the disease, as it is almost in
variably traced down to Baltimore as the
starting point, after an outbreak in other
states. In fact, contagious pleuro-pneu-