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49
Even in this country, it is surmised that the disease
which broke out among the lambs in Mr. Harvey's
farm, at Crown Point, and in other places in Norfolk
and Essex, was no other than the rinderpest,
caught from infected cattle grazing upon the same
pasture. I have been informed, also, that a
similar malady has appeared among the deer in
several parts of the country, and especially in
Suffolk. If this be so, it is evident that the malady
is communicable to other ruminants—indeed
Professor Gerlach states, in his evidence before the
Royal Commissioners, that he has put this to proof,
for when he was at Schiedam, he obtained permission
to inoculate some sheep, and he observed
that they all took it mildly. He further states
that cattle will again receive the disease from
sheep by inoculation, but it is not yet ascertained
whether it is thus made milder or not. As far,
however, as all these investigations have gone, they
indicate a possibility of so modifying the action of
the virus as to deprive it of its deadly character.
The last point for consideration is, whether the
flesh of the diseased animal is unfit for human food.
In deciding this question we have first to look at
the fact that the disease arises from a specific
poison, and that this poison is largely reproduced
in the bodies of infected animals, and that the
chief manifestation of the disease is an acute fever.
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