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THE CATTLE PLAGUE.

NOTWITHSTANDING the certificates of the chairman of theAgricultural Society of Esthonia and others of that province,recently published in the daily journals, further researches tend Ito confirm the belief that the first appearance of rinderpestarose in immediate connexion with the herd of cattle importedfrom Revel in May last, and that that herd was diseased. The ievidence in support of this opinion is in great part official, and !,,will probably not be made public until after the Royal Com- ’,mission has terminated its inquiries. In the meanwhile the

following remarkable facts in connexion with the developmentof the epizootic may be mentioned.On July 2nd some cattle bought in the Islington market were

embarked for Holland. These cattle had been exposed at themarket for sale on three preceding market days, a portion ofthe Revel herd also having been exposed in the same market onthe same days. The cattle were sent to Schiedam, and on thevoyage several became ill, and some died immediately uponarrival at the port. The disease from which they succumbed wasunquestionably the rinderpest. The remaining animals were dis-tributed in various directions, and the epizootic quickly showeditself amongst the Dutch herds which had been brought intocontact with these cattle. Before, however, the great gravityof the malady had been recognised, Dutch herds, which hadbeen exposed to the infection, were sent to England, and sick-ened after reaching these shores. It was in this manner that

rinderpest was introduced into several localities of Suffolk andShropshire and other counties, in which the appearance of thedisease in the first instance seemed difficult to be accounted

for, except on the theory of spontaneous origin. Professor

Simonds, however, having been struck with the frequency withwhich some of these outbreaks were connected with the pur-chase of Dutch stock, caused inquiries to be instituted, whichled to the discovery of the importation of the disease from ourshores into Holland, and its re-importation into this country.

Several almost contemporaneous outbreaks in different dis-tricts appear to have taken place amongst cattle bought in theLondon market during June, throughout the whole of whichmonth some of the Revel cattle were exposed there on market-days for sale. A cow bought on the 19th of June sickened atHackney on the 28th; and the disease appeared in a dealer’sshed at Whitechapel on the 1st of July amongst cattle whichhad been taken more than once to the Islington market andexposed there for sale during the previous month.The admirable report on the pathological appearances ob-

served amongst cattle which had died of the plague at Edin-burgh, of which an abstract was given in our number of the30th ult., was drawn up by Dr. Andrew Smart. He wasassisted in his investigation by Professor Strangeways.A curious question recently arose in connexion with the

suspected appearance of rinderpest amongst a quantity ofcattle sent from Edinburgh to Preston. The animals hadbeen upwards of twenty-four hours on the journey, and duringthis time they had not received (as is the usual custom undersuch circumstances) either food or drink. When they reachedtheir destination, several were manifestly unwell; but it wasapparently doubted at first whether they were suffering fromdisease or from the prolonged want of water and food, and ex-posure to a long journey, partly under a hot sun. The crueltyto which cattle are subjected in transit from place to place byrailway has recently attracted much attention. It is a publicscandal that should not be permitted to continue. A very in-genious suggestion by a Mr. Reid, of Granton, has been broughtto our notice, showing with what facility and at what a littlesacrifice of time and money this cruelty may be avoided. He

proposes to attach to cattle-trucks troughs, which admit ofbeing filled with the greatest readiness with water, and whichAre available. also for holding food. These troughs beingattached around the upper and outer edge of the truck areeasily reached by the cattle.The Clerk of the Council has forwarded to the journals for

publication a description of rinderpest, drawn up by Professor8eifmann, of the Veterinary College of Warsaw. It is intendedfor popular use, and is very imperfect and ill-adapted for itspurpose.Mr. Frank Buckland has offered a suggestion for the trcat-

ment of the cattle plague which merits consideration. In 1851the carnivora in the Zoological Gardens were affected with amalady which threatened the destruction of the entire collec-tion. In the lions the symptoms were, as described by Mr.Bartlett, " dulness and uneasiness, nervous twitchings, sneez-ing, serous discharge from the nose, mouth, and eyes, loss ofappetite, and great general prostration, followed by inflam-mation and ulceration of the throat, gullet, and nasal pas-sages." " The malady was treated with chlorate of potash, andapparently with the happiest results. Four lions, threelionesses, two tigers, two cheetahs, and four leopards wereattacked. Before the use of chlorate of potash one lion andone lioness had died ; after its use no other death occurred.Mr. Buckland thinks that the remedy might be advan-

tageously used during the present epizootic among hornedcattle. The preparation may be given without hesitation, andhe suggests that the dose for an adult cow should be, at thecommencement, half an ounce morning and evening. On thefollowing day, if no diminution of the symptoms be observed,the dose might be doubled, decreasing it on the third day tohalf an ounce. Under any circumstances he would advise thediscontinuance of the remedy on the fourth day, subsequentlygiving smaller doses daily till the animal is convalescent. Thebest mode of administration is to dissolve half an ounce ofchlorate of potash in one quart of boiling water, and then add.to this two quarts of cold water. The animal, being thirstyfrom the disease, will drink these three quarts, and then itshould have its full quantity of water.

Chlorate of potash, Mr. Buckland states, exercised a verybeneficial effect over a malady marked by general prostration,which attacked the horses of the Royal Horse Guards (Blue)some time ago.

AbstractsOF

INTRODUCTORY LECTURESDELIVERED AT THE

PROVINCIAL MEDICAL SCHOOLSAT THE

Opening of the Session 1865-66.

QUEEN’S COLLEGE, BIRMINGHAM.INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS BY DR. HINDS.

THE subject chosen was "the present and probable futurestatus or position, scientific and social or professional, of themedical body, and its relation with those so-called signs of thetimes and movements by which that future status must to a.

great degree be innuenced and determined." Dr. Hinds saidthere was no future of progress for the profession, or of noble-ness or of respect from the wisest and most scientific men,except from the faithful and earnest cultivation of scientificknowledge. Scientitic discovery had raised the profession ofmedicine to its present standard, and scientific discovery mustraise it still higher. The profession were bound by a greatobligation to adopt and make use of every improvement whichthe sciences bearing on medicine might evolve. He did not

expect that medicine could be so perfected as to be free fromhypothesis and conjectural reasoning, but medicine was im-mensely susceptible of improvement and progress from science.It was science which had redeemed it from its condition inthe dark ages of the world. It was to science that it must lookfor its future advancement. There was not one science onwhich modern medicine was built that could be assumed to beperfect. How immense then was the field of improvement whichlay open to the scientific practitioner and the student of medi-cine. They must not sink into the position of mere disease-curers. They had a still higher aim and interest as disease-preventers-as exponents of the laws of health, both of mindand body, and also of laws which bore deeply on the moralwelfare of the whole community. Such aims and such aspira-tions were amongst the duties which they owed to their Makerand to society. A writer had somewhere stated that his mottowas non quo, sed quo modo The writer of an introductoryaddress at the commencement of a medical session was not

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quite so fortunate, and might rather inquire, non solus quomono, sed quo? On such occasions it was usual to take a gooddeal of latitude-to allude to matters of general interest be-tween the profession and the public, and he might withoutimpropriety revert to certain strictures which had appeared inthe public press on the question of medical etiquette-a matterwhich concerned the public even more nearly than the pro-fession. It was said that lives were and are given, if notsacrificed, to its agency. The Lord Justice Clerk, in a late trial,declared that he cared not for professional etiquette, and that" there is a rule of life and a consideration far higher thanprofessional etiquette and professional rule, " and that is theduty that every citizen of this country, that every right-mindedman owes his neighbour, to prevent the destruction of humanlife in this world." One of the most wonderful things in amedical practitioner is the constancy with which he sees his ’ powers, his principles of action, his codes of honour incompre-hensible to patients and the public. Of course the well-being,the salvation and recovery of his patients is the great end, thesummum bonum of the practitioner. It is the life and soul of all the practitioner’s aims, hopes, anxieties, and ministrations;but should a sense of duty to his patients be the only govern-ing principle ? Are there no collateral duties of any kind ordegree ? Must we, need we be unscrupulous as to the means,so we keep our duty to our patients ? Nay, is it ever requiredof us that we shall do evil in order that good may come, if itbe under the pretence of a sole duty to a patient ? And whowould suffer the lowest and the worst if such a practice weretolerable ? Most assuredly it would be the patient himselfwho would suffer. Even 2’Ae Times, amid much abuse, isconstrained to acknowledge that it would not "be fair to denythat the public benefits in some respects by the esp?-it de corpsof professional men. But what is this medical etiquette thatit should be favoured with such dignified rebuke and con-demnation ? Are these traditional rules or written laws ? ’? Isit an inexorable routine ? It is no such thing. It is none ofthese. Professional etiquette has no principles or laws for itsvotaries but the principles of honour, the courtesies which aneducated, an honourable, and a high-toned and human fellow-ship will dictate and demand. Whoever claims to act on the

principles of medical etiquette and transgresses any one ofthese principles, shelters himself under disguise, and mistakeshis duty both to himself and to his fellow-men."

Dr. Hinds then referred to the establishment of a medicalcollege for women at New York, and said the way in which this new movement would be met by the profession in thiscountry would depend very much on the way in which it -wasmet by the public. If women could fully qualify themselvesfor medical duties and responsibilities, and to the satisfaction Iof the public, it would be very hard, if not useless, for theprofession to make any efforts at obstruction. "But," he said," there is another question less easy of solution. Is the highest class of female mind capable of assuming the duties and re- sponsibilities of professional life ? Are professional responsi- bilities consistent with the female character and the duties ofthe sex’? I believe it is hardly so. Many of the humbler dutiesof the practitioner may be aspired to by women, no doubt;but it appears to me, looking at the character of the femalemind, and the duties which women owe to their ordinary posi-tion-one stamped upon them by our common Maker—that allsuch ministrations will be exceptional; and I believe it may befound that the more that is attempted in this way, the moreexceptional are those ministrations likely to become. Suchbeing the case, while we receive actual facts with a courteous 1and welcome spirit, it certainly would not be honest in theprofession, or in the authorities who govern that profession,to offer encouragement in the way of promotion in referenceto a movement which they believe must, in the highestsense of the term, result, more or less, in failure. A studentof medicine, if he is to he worthy of the name, and worthyof his high destiny, must rest his hopes and pretensions onlabour. That he should work, is the most earnest wish ofevery professor, theological or medical, of this college. Workis that for which every student comes here. A college life ismade respectable by work, made successful by it. The wholeworld indeed is carried on by work. Every good man works,whatever be his position in life, and bad men are unredeemablybad, pitiably contemptible, if they do not work. Life is in-deed sanctiiied by work. The brightest gem in the escutcheonof honour and of nobility is true work. The road to profes-sional success is work. Large-hearted men have become greatthrough their large-heartedness, but the price of success inany intellectual profession or pursuit is drudgery alone. Even

genius without work is almost a barren waste. Lord Bacon

was a most laborious worker. He even worked in his leisuremoments, for amongst many manuscripts found after his death,were Sudden Thoughts set down for Use.’ Who shalladequately picture the labour and drudgery of John Hunter,who was a collector of facts, in a sense which few other menever attained ? ‘.’ The great men of the profession at the presentday are or were laborious workers, and so are the great menof all professions. The pursuit of science is a chimera, exceptin unison with laborious research and drudgery. Faraday, Sir^Roderick Murchison, Hugh Miller, Owen, Carpenter, Sir Ben-jamin Brodie, Sir Charles Hastings, form a fair sample of menwho owe their whole position and repute mainly to their habits

j and power of laborious work and scientific research. Now,with all our best and tried friends still with us ; with thepress to aid us with its influence and good services ; thestudents with us, of course, and the public also with us ; with;a renewed, earnest, and faithful determination on the part ofthe professors to aim at the highest phase of instruction, andof teaching power, and means,--with these things in our pos-session and in our hearts, we conceive our prospects are trulyencouraging, and on these grounds, therefore, we rest our

hopes and our claims for a future of increasing usefulness andincreasing prosperity."

MANCHESTER ROYAL SCHOOL OF MEDICINE.

DR. MORGAN’S INTRODUCTORY ADDRESS.

After some preliminary remarks, Dr. Morgan said, "Itseems to me that there are occasions on which medical studentsare easily led aside. One, two, or three leaders of popularopinion denounce lectures as a delusion and a snare, and

thereupon the rest of the flock echo and confirm the cry. Iwell remember at the time I was pursuing my medical studieshow frequently I heard students lamenting the hard necessitywhich constrained them to attend a lecture when their valuabletime might so much more profitably have been spent in thelaboratory or the dissecting-room. Now, gentlemen, I makebold to inform you that if any of you entertain this prejudiceagainst lectures, you will one day bitterly regret your mistake.If there are any subjects especially adapted for this modeof instruction, they are those which bear upon the pro-fession of medicine. I can assert, most unhesitatingly, thatthe series of lectures which I attended at a London hospitalwere as a whole infinitely more attractive, and far more calcu-lated to awaken general interest, than those at which I waspresent at the University of Oxford. Nor is it in any degreestrange that such should be the case : anatomy, physiology,chemistry,--in a word, all those sciences to the cultivation ofwhich you are expected to devote your attention, admit ofbeing illustrated by diagrams, specimens, and diverting expe-riments. Such illustrations vary the monotony of your work;they relax that strain upon the mind which its continued ap-plication to the more abstract sciences is so liable to induce.Let me exhort you, then, to make good use of the hours youspend in the theatre; lend your ears to your lecturers. Manyof you whom I now address will probably be one day selectedto fulfil the duty of instructing others; you will then discoverthat, even though the subject you are called upon to treatshould prove dry and uninviting, your labours will be ren-dered comparatively light if you are but favoured with anattentive audience. No more cheering sight can gladden theheart of the teacher than the quick eye and intelligent counte-nance of the thoughtful and painstaking student." He dweltthen upon the importance of a proper use of the wards. Thetwo grand mistakes which prevailed among the students ofour medical schools were, disinclination to profit by the teach-ing of lectures, and remissness in attending the hospital wards.Dr. Morgan then remarked upon the prospects and difficultiesof the profession, and the grounds of confidence in medicine.He observed: " At the commencement of my professionalcareer nothing inspired me with deeper confidence in medicineas a science than observing the marvellous accuracy of thatdiagnostic skill which unravelled even the most obscurecases, whether admitted into the medical or surgical wards.On those occasions, likewise, in which the disease proveddesperate, and terminated fatally, it was allowable, afterdeath, to verify the opinions expressed during life, and suchevidence could not fail to sttisfy the most sceptical minds. Itis this accuracy of diagnosis which really constitutes one ofthe most satisfactory and cheering features in the exercise ofour profession. I do not say that either you or I will ever