Siberian plague, a disease believed to be the same as
that which raged in Egypt before the Exodus of the Israelites, and which the Book of Exodus describes as a "grievous murrain," and as "a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast," his begun to rage furiously in some of the provinces of the Russian Empire; and there, too, it affects not only horses and cattle, but also human beings. This plague is believed to be the same as that which is called by our veterin- aries "anthrax," or " splenic fever," and some recent researches of Dr. Greenfield's have shown a strong probability that by vaccinating with a mild form of the disease, protection against any serious and fatalform can be almost secured. We publish else- where a letter throwin,g doubt on the advantages of experiments of this kind on the effects of inoculation as a protection against disease, but we do not believe that our correspondent has looked into the evidence telling in favour of the value of Dr. Greenfield's precautions against Siberian plague. And assuredly if that precaution holds out anything like the same prospect of help which vaccination has given us against small-pox, he would be a very poor friend to the lower animals who would forbid all experimentation in so hopeful a field.
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