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265 [1913
with whom they had first communicdted. It appears that the mucous membranes
were, like those of the other tongues reported to you at the meeting
on the 24th February, blistered, and discoloured in parts. In the present
instance Inspector Wilkinson, to whom credit is due, noticed that there
was also a brown or chocolate discolouration on the flesh underneath the
blisters? and he therefore brought a number of the tongues to me for
examination. On seeing them I came to the conclusion, after a careful
inspection, that the blisters were pathological and not the result of
freezing. I, therefore, had them sent to Dr. Macfadden, the Medical
Inspector for Foods at the Local Government Board, with a request that
he might get them examined; and he thereupon forwarded them to the Royal
Veterinary College, where the Veterinary Surgeons, having examined them,
arrived at the conclusion that these blisters and pathological marks were
caused by foot and mouth disease. They thereupon communicated with
the Board of Agriculture.
Some of you will recollect that some three or four years ago a consignment
of tongues from America showed certain marks of blistering,
and that at that time I communicated with the United States officials,
including Dr. Wray, their expert on animal foods in London, who
informed me that such blisters were frequently to be found on frozen
tongues. As the experts at the Veterinary College were in agreement
with this opinion, the tongues were, of course, passed as fit for human
consumption. In the present case, however,—although to anyone casually
observing them the blisters appeared similar to those on the American
tongues,—there was the brown staining, already alluded to, on some
of them, and as I have already stated, it was this discolouration, together
with a cicitrization around some of the blisters which induced me to send
them to the Local Government Board for further examination.
The Board of Agriculture seem deeply interested in the matter, and
are making the very fullest inquiries, the result of which will, no doubt,
be communicated to me later.
If their suspicion that this is foot and mouth disease should prove to
be correct, your officials will have revealed a mode of entry of this
disease into the country which has hitherto been unsuspected.