The Bruce Herald. TOKOMAIRIRO, FEBRUARY 9, 1865.

Bruce Herald, Volume II, Issue 44, 9 February 1865, Page 3

The Bruce Herald. TOKOMAIRIRO, FEBRUARY 9, 1865.

Of all diseases to which cattle are subject pleuro pneumonia is the most fatal and the one which is'least understood. Every owner of cattle knows it byname and dreads its appearance,* many hold.- strong: ideas relative to it, but tHe exact character of the disease appears as yet to be a mystery even to scientific hien. Animated by a lauda ble desire to collect reliable information regarding; every thing connected with pleuro pneutnonia, the "."Victorian' government: .recently : appbjnted . a commission of well knowmscientificcinen, " to enquire into the origin and nature of: the' disease known as; pleuro "affecting 1 the catile of; the colony 1 ; how far ; inoculation as now ; practised .is' of 'value as a- remedy or as a preyentati ve measure j also, as to the contagiousness pi such disease, an.d whether thrisame may be modified; by climate, ,or any and' what treatment at present-known; also as to; whether -the- -flesh of animals af--1 fected with said disease -is j to any, and to what extent unfit for food." The Commissioners' were professor McCo\V ! ' Black, J. T. , 'Hiidoti: Esq., FJR.C.B., and T: 8. Ralph* M.R.C.S. Their final report how lies before us, and the conclusion which they arrive at after a long investigation, carefully conducted experiments, and the analysis of a mass of conflicting evidence completely lipsetj all preconceived ideas on the subject. . The Commissioners state that they have identified pleuro pneumonia as known in Australia, with the disease which has raped on the continent of Europe, in Great Britain, Ireland and the Cape of Good Hope, and which is known as lung disease, pulmonary murrain, exudatory pleuro pneumonia, and in Germany as lungen seuche, and the} r allude to the popular ideas as to the infectious or contiigious nature of the disease. Deeming it necessary, however, to test the accuracy of the popular notions on these subjects by rigid experiment, and after inquiry finding it impossible to obtain in Victoria even a few quiet cattle which they could be certain had never been affected with pleuro or exposed to any possible disease or contagion, a few head "of cattle were imported from Tasmania where pleuro pneumonia has never j-et appeared. These animals were-placed in. a -paddock where all communication wit.li other cattle was impossible, and a number of diseased cattle having* also been obtained, the following experiments were made to determine whether pluro pneumonia^ could be communicated to sound animals, by the secretions or exhalations of diseased ones. The nasal mucus of diseased cattle was inserted into the nostrils of- sound : ones, including one case of 'a cow ten days after calving, and another of a cow in low condition immediately after bloodletting. The bronchial exiidiVtiqn of diseased animals was inserted into the; nostrils of healthy ones. Healthy animals, were exposed to the breath of disones, so that the former must breath the breath of the latter. Some of the animals thus treated were hied-, and as the diseased cattle died, new ones took their place. The saliva of diseased animals was introduced into the- mouths of healthy . ones. The blood of diseasecNinimals was injected into thfi subcutaneous areolar tissue of sound ones", and some cattle x were compelled to dririk*water : from whicli diseased ones had previouSy drank. Unrestricted communication of sound and diseased cattle in the open air w ( as also alipwed,. arcl in one case a sound and a diseased; animal were both confined' in a ; single stall <of ashed. The ■ Commissioners state,:' however,: that in not one 1 - Single" case lias the* disease' been communicated^ toany healthy under ex'periiiieht. ,The re^pptt fsays that this result ,'must be regarded ' " as .of very , great. prac-* ;ticai : imppr ; tauce, for without assuming the absolute impossibility; of pleuro pueumoni;; being- conveyed from a diseased ft^a healthy ariihial;' it' is ? quite- evident that in -the; state iti. wh|ch'the disease' now" exists' tn- ; tl*is co;lpny^ Sueti consequence •' 'ruhsfr 'at least j be rarity^ jfit o^durs^Wt' Hildas ithe/ amjnals' jpn.v^icii fflr/^i|^^xpfeiv J njettts-were Ju^&Fnoeci kwifM '«& SsQ9Ws togr.^«y<^aigg)Si?ajted; f ltestg^n*ngjre^(s^ |t^e.

iiaUlit^ofintection far beyond what could {occur under ordinary circumstances.""""*™ i With regard to inoculation, th° Comjmissioners'state that they have "had from ipractipaLt observers; 'of stock very strong 1 iand v'ery~o'f|ijjjjti:e opinions as to the value of.inoculatifl^pbut it is on all sides ad--1 'liitted that it -does not confer an absolute protection. They have not, however, been able to avoid the observation, lhat the operators in inoculation, who have come forward to state their experience, have each (as a rule) laid great stress on his own method of taking* the matter, and performing 1 the operation as the only effectual plan, aid these methods have widely differed ; yet according 1 to his own statement, the success of each seems to have been all he could have wished.". Further on in their report they state that the morbid... appearances of the disease " are now of a less severe character than those observed when the" disease was first introduced into this colony; that whereas at that time extensive g-angrene and grey hepatizatidn of the lung* were not unfre(juent; now the stage of. red hepatization is not often passed,:.. Out of seventeen diseased animals' whi^^we had under observation,: at least fbur^lave either recovered or been in ; progress of recovery ; the post mortem examinations of these animals were made almost immediately .after a .physical examination ,of each animal during' life. It is then proved that the natural cure consists in organization- of thecoagulable lymph effused into the connective tissue of the lung. An imperfect dense fibro-areo> lar tissue- is' formed in great quantity. in, and: around the lung-, the lobules of which; •waste partly in consequence of the pressure, to which they/are subjected by this adventitious contracting* web. Thus the animal recover?, but with a lung* more or less atrophied." . ■ • The Commissioners appeared to have worked hard, and their report is a most valuable one. The- conclusions arrived at, •after. a. long" and careful enquiry we give in their own words, and without comment " From the diminished seventy of the lesions observed 'in the bodies of animals which have lately died of pleuro pneumonia, from the 'greater frequency of recoveries, 'and, as it appears, the comparatively snvill number of animals now becoming attacked, the hope may be reasonably entertained that the disease will at length entirely disappear here, as it has done before now in either places. This consideration, added to the striking result of our carefully conducted experiments, in which all our attempts to communicate the dis^asa' from one animal to another left the health of the second animal uninjured, lea Is v? to think it undesiraile in the present state of things that there should be any Legislative action taken in the matter. " The essential nature of bovin pleuro pneumonia is as obscure as that of cholera, influenza, diphtheria, and many other disease's o! our cvrii.speciepj so much moTe ..easily invc tigated, and which yet, after so va«t an. amount of patient. and laborious investigation by men of the nnst acute intellect, remains a mystery Indeed to. ajttempt the solution of a problem so mysterious would, as we believe, in the present state of knowledge, be b t a profitless misapplication of lahor of a public commissioner.. All that we have been led to regard as the proper object of scientific investigation is, the conditions under which the phenomena of tbe r disease, present them-ely.es, aud accordingly to certain of these conditions vve have couh'ned our line of research. The result of our inquiry appears, hovever, to have a clear ■\nd direct practical bearing; and we hope that <uir labors wiil.be found to have supplied reliable information for the government of the colony, tending to discourage Legislative interference with owners of cattle; and inasmuch as we having now proved by our carefully conducted experiments that the diseaseis not likely to be communicated by any oi the means formerly supposed to spread the conKion — namely, the inhalations of the breath of diseased beasts, contact with them, drinking from the same vessel, contact of the secretion from the mouth and nose of diseased beast * with the corresponding parts of healthy anirinals- — we point out that the acion of government in declaring certain districts clean or unclean, inspecting stock supposed to be diseased, destroying diseased animals and ob structing the transfer of cattle from one district to another, is unnecessary and uridesirable •as only entailing, loss and inconveui.nce, with" out any reasonable probability of stopping t-he spread of the disease. Before our experimenJs were made, such action would, of course, be a proper preliminary precaution f<ir the protection ; of the holders of clean stock in the colony.' ;;"our in vest)g>iJions r showing the innocuous character of the flesh for food when having thfiappearance of ordinary meat in the l-utih-ej^'^hpps,, lfeniqve; tjte necessity for' hew Le'gis.lati.Vie ac tinn v$ this respect also! . / ; &}"'<£&• 3$ wse,rqm-^con;ciusipnst" it is sati^fac.. 4?f^^>^3 d 35Hf§el^'sj jn. accc^-d.' with; th^iro^j 4 uw*dou^ &&■■■ «• 'n Ypm^Vv-. }iZ£^{ -.- «, i. ' J'* *

recent information laid before the Imperial