nce of having near at hand a few definite facts
concerning this disease, should it ever reach our shores, will be at once
appreciated. A knowledge of such facts may aid in an early recognition of
the disease. It must not be forgotten, on the other hand, that a
superficial knowledge of diseases, such as the layman may gain through
reading, not infrequently leads to confounding comparatively harmless,
noninfectious maladies with such as are truly dangerous (foot-and-mouth
disease, rinderpest, etc), and causes temporary panics among stock owners.

According to some authorities, rinderpest has its home in the territory
around the Black Sea and the Volga River in Russia; according to others, in
Central Asia. Thence it has been conveyed at various times by cattle to
nearly every country of Europe and Asia, where it has proved to be a
veritable bovine scourge. It probably visited Europe as early as the
beginning of the Christian era, and since then the migrations of the people
from the Far East have from time to time introduced the disease. Especially
during the eighteenth century it was more or less prevalent in Europe,
owing to the frequent wars, during which herds of cattle were brought from
eastern Europe and Asia to supply the demands of the armies. It prevailed
in Europe during the Franco-Prussian War. At present it exists in eastern
Europe and in portions of Asia and Africa.

The virus is conveyed from one country to another chiefly by means of
infected cattle, although infected hides, wool, and feed may play an
important part in its dissemination. The railroad facilities of the
present, which furnish the means of such rapid communication, are
particularly liable to aid in the spread of the disease.

In the past rinderpest has been supposed to be identical with various human
diseases, among them smallpox and typhoid fever. These suppositions are
unfounded, and the view of authorities to-day is that it is a disease of a
peculiar kind, not identical with any other known infectious disease.

_The contagion of rinderpest._--The cause of rinderpest must be looked for
among microorganisms--most likely bacteria. The investigations made thus
far for this causal factor have been fruitless. However, certain recent
experiments would indicate that the unseen microbe is of such dimensions
that it is withheld by the dense bacterial filters, but passes through the
more porous ones. Formerly it was supposed by various authorities that