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Unless, therefore, each person use his utmost effort to extinguish
the seeds of the plague which lurks about his farm,
it may become a centre of contagion, which will spread it
abroad throughout tho country, and render unavailing the
sacrifices necessary for the speedy suppression of this terrible
scourge.
In 1757, Layard says, "The disease, thank God, is con"siderably
abated, and only breaks out now and then in such
"places when, for want of proper cleansing after the infection,
"or carelessness in burying the carcases, the putrid power is
"still preserved, and is ready at a proper constitution of the
"air, or on being uncovered, to dispense such a quantity of
"effluvia that all tho cattle who have not had it will be liable
"to infection."
This disease appeared in this country in the two years
1348.9, and in the year 1480.
Till 1714 this country was not again visited by an extensive
murrain against cattle.
This was followed by an epidemic in 1745, which lasted till
1757 (12 years), and by another in 1768.
"When an old plague re-appears after a lapse of 100 years,
be assured that we arc punished for some violation of sanitary
law, which we should do well to discover and obey, without
waiting for cyclical changes to unravel the mystery."*
"There is much to bo done, however, before cattle can be
placed in a sanitary condition to resist any great plague. Our
cattle, besides being housed filthily, are made gluttonous by
tho mode of fattening them, and are then rendered prone to
disease.
"There is one difficulty in impressing farmers with the necessity
of improving the condition of their cattle. They point
to the cattle sheds of Lord Granville and Miss Burdett Coutts,
or like examples, and say that the plague attacks the well
kept cattle as well as those which are foully kept.
"But this plague originates amongst cattle badly kept, and
it is most important to prevent any liability for contagion by
* Dr. Lyon Playfair.