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SANITARY REPORT
For the Year 1865.
To the Board of Works for the Hackney District.
Gentlemen,
One of the most interesting subjects to which I
shall have to refer in my report for this year is the Rinderpest,
or Cattle Plague. There can be now but little doubt that the
disease was brought from the Continent to London, and spread
from thence over the country; but there is no proof whatever
as to the mode in which it was imported, or the country from
which it came. The earliest known case occurred at Lambeth,
on the 24th of June; the next at Islington, on the 27th ; and
the third at Hackney, on the 28th of June. Soon after this
the disease appeared in a large proportion of the Hackney
cow-sheds, and has raged with more or less intensity up to the
present time. I was unable in many instances to ascertain the
mode of propagation, but in the largest proportion was satisfied
that the disease was brought to the sheds by cattle bought in
the market. There can also be little doubt that the disease
was spread over the country to a great extent by the cows
being sent from infected London dairies to the markets for
sale. The Orders in Council assisted most materially in disseminating
the disease, for it was the interest of the cowkeepers
to prevent the Government Inspector from visiting the