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So that of the 73,549 cases attacked, 41,491 have
died, and 13,931 have been killed, the recoveries
having been about 10 per cent.
The extent of its future progress can hardly be
estimated, for with the present mode of dealing
with the disease, it may remain with us for years.
At the last visitation in 1745, it stayed in the
country for twelve years, and it destroyed at least
200,000 animals, 160,000 of which died, and the
rest were killed. The prospect before us, therefore,
is not encouraging, and it is high time we should
review the knowledge we have gained, and apply
it to the future.
In doing this we perceive, in the first place, that
it is an imported disease ; for although the actual
time and circumstance of its importations cannot
be clearly discerned, yet it is manifestly a foreign
distemper of specific origin, and spreading only by
contagion. That it is the rinderpest of the steppes
of Russia appears also to be beyond doubt; and
seeing how nearly we are brought into communication
with the infected districts of Eastern Europe,
it is evident that we are in constant danger of a
similar visitation, and that the utmost vigilance
should be exercised at our places of import. It is
a serious question whether those places should not
be strictly defined, and the number of them reduced