The cattle plague returns show another terrible increase, the seizures
amounting to 7,700 against 6,200 in the previous week. There are better days, however, in store. Scientific opinion is sway- ing more and more to the theory that rinderpest is small-pox, and an extensive series of experiments has already been commenced. It is delayed chiefly by the deficient supply of vaccine matter, but this obstacle will in a few days at farthest be removed. On Wednesday a Mr.Hancock was exhibited at the meeting of the Pathological Society as a man who had actually taken the cowpox from a beast with the disease, and the Lancet has taken up the theory in earnest. If the experiments succeed, the wild propositions now current in county society may all be laid aside. It is as easy to vaccinate a baby beast as any other baby, and our herds may be placed finally beyond risk either from foreign or home infection. Whatever the result, it is worthy of note that the instant the question passed out of the hands of the cow-doctors hope revived.
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