About the first week in August a cow, imported from Holland in 1852, sickened; she died on the 20th of the same month. This animal was examined, but it was questioned whether she died of Pleuro-pneumonia. Other fatal cases soon followed; and in the course of two months nearly all those lost during the epidemic died. Examinations were made, and it was soon ascertained that the disease was essentially an affection of the lungs and pleura. An ox that was fatally diseased was killed on the 26th of October, and more carefully examined than any previously; both lungs were much diseased, in a manner which we shall have occasion to describe further on. No age was spared, nor did it appear that strength and vigor enabled the animals to resist the disease. The whole number lost was thirty, of which three were slaughtered. Of the races, it was thought that a greater proportion of the Dutch stock lived than of the other. A bull has been in the barn throughout the disease, and has received, so far as could be perceived, no detriment. A "mammoth cow," as she is designated, weighing 2,300 pounds, calved on the 2d of December; two days after became sick, and died in five and a half weeks, of very extensive Pleuro-pneumonia. The calf was suckled by the mother four days after she became ill; it was then transferred to a native cow, procured for the purpose, and placed in the same barn with the diseased animals until she also became diseased. This cow was killed on the 2d of June, and an examination proved the existence of Pleuro-pneumonia in its early stage and to a moderate extent; but the calf has not only been well, but is remarkable for strength and beauty, weighing at the age of six months 800 pounds.

One of Mr. Chenery's cows was sent from his home farm, more than a mile distant, to the "Highland Stock Farm," and replaced by another from the Stock Farm. The first cow became diseased with Pleuro-pneumonia after being placed in the barn with the other cattle; but the one sent to the home farm did not have Pleuro-pneumonia, although both that and another killed with her, in October, showed signs of what was supposed to be phthisis.

Two calves died of Pleuro-pneumonia in the course of the autumn, without communicating the disease to six or eight others, occupying, until the time of their death, the same pasture. No isolation was thought necessary or attempted until the 1st of September, and then the isolation ceased after a few weeks, and was not again resumed till about the middle of April, 1860. No care was taken to prevent the communication of the disease to cattle occupying the adjoining farms, from which they were separated by a common stone-wall only. Notwithstanding this freedom of communication, which certainly allowed of their putting their noses together, no instance of the transmission of the disease is known to have occurred to any animal living within twenty miles of Belmont. No death from Pleuro-pneumonia occurred at Mr. Chenery's farm after the 8th of January, 1860. Several animals remained ill for a considerable time, some entirely recovering their former health and strength, and are now living apparently quite well, and others continuing in an uncertain state, until they were killed in autumn, to determine the progress and mode of termination of the disease.

On the 29th of June, the day on which the first cow died (one of the four imported from Rotterdam), three calves were sold to a farmer in North Brookfield, a town in Worcester County, about fifty miles west of Belmont. The farmer took them home by the railway, and drove them from the station to his farm, a distance of five miles. On the way, one of the calves was observed to falter, and at the end of the journey was evidently sick. It was placed in a barn with forty head of cattle, where it remained four days. It became more sick, and was removed to another barn, containing twenty cattle, where it died in ten days. Of the other two calves, one has remained perfectly well, the other has appeared somewhat ill, but both are living. About a fortnight after the return of the calf, an ox of the herd of forty fell

sick and soon died. Two weeks after the death of this animal, a second died; and subsequently, at somewhat longer intervals, others died, until eight were lost. Of the twenty in the barn where the calf died, all were apparently well on the first of the following November, when eleven young heifers were sold at auction, and, with the remaining nine, distributed among various herds, but all in the same vicinity. All these herds were found by the Commissioners, in the following April, six months afterwards, to be more or less diseased. During the winter, six or eight of the oxen of the herd of forty, where the sick calf remained four days, were used in drawing lumber, and apparently well. They stayed a single night with a herd which subsequently became diseased. Another animal of the same herd was sold to a man in New Braintree, an adjoining town, and he also lost a number of his cattle. A yoke of cattle from the same herd of forty above mentioned were sold and went into a herd in the same town, North Brookfield,-where they remained only five days; one third of this herd became diseased. This yoke of oxen again, still apparently well, were placed in a team of twenty-two yoke of cattle, and used a day and a half in moving a building from Oakham to North Brookfield, a distance of four or five miles. The whole of these cattle are said to have become diseased, and subsequently eleven other herds, to which these cattle belonged, also became diseased. Animals were found diseased, and badly diseased, after standing in a road in North Brookfield while diseased animals were in a barn on the other side.

Animals which had become diseased in Brookfield were driven to other towns, and in the course of the journey other animals were near them, or in a condition to be " exposed," as it is termed in the evidence taken before the Committee of the Legislature. In one instance fifty were in this condition, and in other instances several were in the same pasture, and yet the amount of subsequent disease was very slight. Beyond a space of ten or twelve miles square, around North Brookfield, the cases of disease are believed to have been very few.

The appearance of the disease in Belmont and in Brookfield, and the increasing amount of the disease in the latter town, alarmed the inhabitants, and application was made to the Legislature, then in session, for the enactment of such laws, and the taking of such other measures, as would tend to the arrest of the disease. Accordingly, April 4, 1860, an Act was passed "to provide for the Extirpation of the Disease called Pleuro-pneumonia among Cattle," which is as follows:

"SECT. 1. The Governor is hereby authorized to appoint three Commissioners, who shall visit, without delay, the several places in this Commonwealth, where the disease among cattle, called Pleuro-pneumonia, may be known or suspected to exist, and shall have full power to cause all cattle belonging to the herds in which the disease has appeared, or may appear, or which have belonged to such herds since the disease may be known to have existed therein, to be forthwith killed and buried, and the premises where such cattle have been kept cleansed and purified; and to make such order in relation to the further use and occupation of such premises as may seem to them to be necessary to prevent the extension of the disease.

"SECT. 2. The Commissioners shall cause all cattle, in the aforesaid herds, not appearing to be affected by the disease, to be appraised before being killed, at what would have been their fair market value if the disease had not existed; and the value of the cattle thus appraised shall be allowed and paid out of the Treasury of the Commonwealth to the owner or owners thereof.

"SECT. 3. Any person who shall knowingly disregard any lawful order or direction of said Commissioners, or who shall sell or otherwise dispose of an animal which he knows, or has good reason to suspect, has been exposed to the aforesaid disease, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars.

"SECT. 4. The Commissioners shall make a full report to the Secretary of the Board of Agriculture, of their proceedings, and of the result of their observations and inquiries relative to the nature and character of the disease. "SECT. 5. The Commissioners shall duly certify all allowances made under the second section of this act, and other expenses incurred by them, or under their direction, in the execution of their service, to the Governor and Council; and the Governor is hereby authorized to draw his warrant therefor upon the Treasury.

"SECT. 6. This act shall take effect from its passage, and continue in force for the term of one year thereafter, and no longer."

For carrying out the provisions of this Act, $ 10,000 were appropriated. Three Commissioners were appointed by the Governor, as contemplated by this Act. They visited Mr. Chenery's farm on the 16th of April, examined his cattle, and pronounced a large number of them diseased. Three were killed and buried, and the remainder were confined to the barn in which the disease first appeared. Brookfield and its vicinity was then visited, where the disease was found to have existed nearly a year in one herd belonging to Mr. Stoddard The Commissioner (Evidence before Legislative Committee, May 31, 1860, p. 22) says: "I forget the precise number, but Mr. Stoddard had lost a great many cattle, I think fifteen. A very large portion of the remainder were condemned as diseased, and the condition of the remainder I would not attempt to say anything about, although I have my opinion about it. The herds exposed to Mr. Stoddard's, last autumn, or when they came to the fall feeding, all those herds exposed early in the autumn, presented unmistakable and very extensive signs of disease. Now, let us come down to a period more recent. Animals exposed to animals brought from Mr. Stoddard's on the first of November, and transported from one place to another, and carrying the exposure with them, in the early part of the winter presented slight marks of the disease. The longer it lodges in a region, the more decided and fixed it is; so that it is in one solid mass in North Brookfield, apparent, distinct, and unequivocal."

"The practice adopted by the Commissioners was, whenever a herd of cattle was found exposed, the cattle were appraised, and a surgeon was appointed to pass judgment upon the number of diseased animals. After that judgment, the remaining animals that were pronounced sound were killed, and passed as in the case of Mr. Stoddard - to the credit of the owner, after an appraisement made by three persons." The average appraisement was about thirty-three dollars a head.

Exactly what constitutes "exposure" is not clearly defined. Being in the same team, in the same barn, or in the same herd, and even passing along a road by a barn in which a diseased animal was, seems to have been consid-. ered by one of the Commissioners as an exposure sufficient to cause disease. Measures to ascertain the exact amount of disease do not appear to have been very carefully taken. The animals pronounced sound by the surgeons were not examined, and of those pronounced diseased, a part only were submitted to examination after death.

Eight hundred and forty-two cattle were killed by the Commissioners, and buried according to law. How many of these were diseased the Commissioners had no accurate means of determining; they depended upon the "pronouncement "of the surgeon for all their information upon this point. Of the animals which have been killed, or have died naturally in the course of the epidemic, and have been examined, it is supposed that about two hundred have exhibited evidence of the disease. Of those which have died naturally, the disease has been proved, by examination after death, to have existed in seventy or eighty. The killing of the diseased and healthy animals commenced about April 16th, and was continued till May 10th, about

three weeks. By that time it had branched off in various directions to various towns. "It assumed such proportions, that it was very evident that the Commissioners had not the funds to perform the operations required by the law." The law confined the Commissioners to one operation, -killing and burying. They stopped killing the herds, and the policy was then changed to circumscribing the disease, by isolating the herds just as fast as possible. According to custom, many cattle were driven, for pasturing, to different towns in the counties in New Hampshire bordering upon Massachusetts. Some of these are said to have been affected with the disease.

This state of things induced the Commissioners and others to petition the Governor to call a session of the Legislature, to take measures for the extinction of the disease. An extra session was called, and a committee of seven from the Senate, and fourteen from the House, was chosen, which held its first meeting May 31. The Commissioners stated before the committee, at its first meeting, that eight hundred and forty-two cattle had been killed, and that their appraised value was something more than twenty thousand dollars. It was also stated that, according to a careful estimate, there were on the 18th of May one thousand head of cattle that had been so exposed as to require that they should either be killed or isolated until it is proved that they are free from disease. The amount of disease was believed to be increasing. Witnesses testified that cattle had been driven, in some instances, to a distance of twenty miles from Brookfield, which had exhibited unmistakable signs of disease after death. One of the selectmen of a neighboring town to Brookfield, in his official capacity, had received information that many cattle in that town had been exposed, and that the disease, in the opinion of physicians, seemed to be fast spreading in the town. Two animals were stated to have died of the disease in Holden, after having been pastured, or driven with and exposing about fifty animals in a small circuit, and these animals were exposing others. The whole tendency of the testimony taken went to show that the disease was contagious and extending its ravages. It was stated that the amount required for the extermination of the disease would now exceed fifty thousand dollars in addition to that already expended. One of the Commissioners said: "I will state the reasons why I have no sort of doubt of the speedy extermination of the disease. I am satisfied that on the western line of this disease the progress has stopped. On the line of the road running from West Brookfield to Ware, with the exception of a number of cattle which were killed in Pelham, -a very ordinary farming town where there are few cattle, and which were driven over from Brookfield, I don't think the disease has gone. In Pelham I think it has entirely stopped. I understand there is a little fear about it to-day, but nothing decisive. But on the road from West Brookfield to Ware, the disease is thoroughly exterminated I have no doubt, and the Commissioners have every reason to suppose the disease may be entirely eradicated by proper measures."

Under the fear and anxieties expressed by some of the witnesses, and the hopes held out by others, of the speedy extermination of the disease, if certain stringent measures were adopted, the following bills were passed on the 12th of June, 1860, and approved by the Governor. The first had reference to the prevention of the disease, and the second more especially to the appointment of a Medical Commission of Examiners of Diseased Animals, and the establishment of a hospital or quarantine for the study and cure of the disease:

"An Act concerning Contagious Diseases among Cattle.

"SECT. 1. The Selectmen of towns, and the Mayor and Aldermen of cities, in case of the existence in this Commonwealth of the disease called Pleuro-pneumonia, or any other contagious disease among cattle, shall cause

the cattle, in their respective towns and cities, which are infected, or which have been exposed to infection, to be secured or collected in some suitable place or places, within such city or town, and kept isolated; and when taken from the possession of their owners, to be maintained, one fifth of the expense thereof to be paid by the town or city wherein the animal is kept, and four fifths at the expense of the Commonwealth, such isolation to continue so long as the existence of such disease or other circumstances renders the same necessary.

"SECT. 2. Said Selectmen and Mayor and Aldermen, when any such animal is adjudged, by a veterinary surgeon or physician by them selected, to be infected with the disease called Pleuro-pneumonia, or any other contagious disease, may, in their discretion, order such diseased animal to be forthwith killed and buried at the expense of such town or city.

"SECT. 3. Said Selectmen and Mayor and Aldermen shall cause all cattle which they shall so order to be killed, to be appraised by three competent and disinterested men, under oath, at the value thereof at the time of the appraisal, and the amount of the appraisal shall be paid as provided in the first section.

"SECT. 4. Said Selectmen and Mayor and Aldermen are hereby authorized to prohibit the departure of cattle from any enclosure, or to exclude cattle therefrom.

"SECT. 5. Said Selectmen and Mayor and Aldermen may make regulations in writing, to regulate or prohibit the passage from, to, or through their respective cities or towns, or from place to place within the same, of any neat cattle; and may arrest and detain, at the cost of the owners thereof, all cattle found passing in violation of such regulations, and may take all other necessary measures for the enforcement of such prohibition, and also for preventing the spread of any such disease among the cattle in their respective towns and cities, and the immediate vicinity thereof.

"SECT. 6. The regulations made by Selectmen, and Mayor and Aldermen, in pursuance of the foregoing section, shall be recorded upon the records of their towns and cities respectively, and shall be published in such towns and cities in such manner as may be provided in such regulations.

"SECT. 7. Said Selectmen and Mayor and Aldermen are authorized to cause all cattle infected with such disease, or which have been exposed thereto, to be forthwith branded upon the rump with the letter P, so as to distinguish the animal from other cattle; and no cattle so branded shall be sold or disposed of except with the knowledge and consent of such Selectmen and Mayor and Aldermen. Any person, without such knowledge and consent, selling or disposing of an animal known to be affected with such disease, or known to have been exposed thereto within one year from such sale or disposal, shall be punished by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year.

"SECT. 8. Any person disobeying the orders of the Selectmen or Mayor and Aldermen, made in conformity with the fourth section, or driving or transporting any neat cattle, contrary to the regulations made, recorded, and published as aforesaid, shall be punished by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year.

"SECT. 9. Whoever knows or has reason to suspect the existence of any such disease among the cattle in his possession, or under his care, shall forthwith give notice to the Selectmen of the town, or Mayor and Aldermen of the city where such cattle may be kept, and for failure so to do, shall be punished by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year.

"SECT. 10. Any town or city whose officers shall neglect or refuse to carry into effect the provisions of sections one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars for each day's neglect.