The return of the cattle plague for the week ending
23rd inst. shows still a slight increase is the number of attacks, the number being 6,256 against 6,054. No less than 63,593 cattle are now known to have been attacked, of which only 5,803 have recovered —less than 10 per cent. The Lancet, however, has published a letter which may enable us to arrest this terrible plague withoit violent legislation.. Dr. Murchison believes, and the Lancet endorrs the belief, that rinderPest is virulent small-pox, shows that all the symptoms are identical, suspects that herds which have had the tow-pox are exempt, and suggests the vaccination of all cattle. This suggestion, which places in our hands an easy and painless preventive, seems to deserve the closest attention. It will pro- bably be found correct, and that the cause of the excessive mortality, so greatly exceeding the average among human subjects, is the thickness of hide, which prevented the pustules appearing, and, with the ignorance of veterinary surgeons, delayed the recognition of the disease.
