§ MR. SANDFORDsaid, he rose to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Why the experiments made as to the cure of the Cattle Plague have not been laid upon the table of the House? The country had been told that the "stamping out" process was the only mode of eradicating the cattle disease, This, he thought, showed a very retrogressive tendency on the part of medical science, and especially in its veterinary branch. For the sake of the agricultural interest generally he sincerely hoped that the disease was not so incurable as it was represented to be, because, as they could not prevent importation of foreign cattle, they would always 1316 be liable to the recurrence of the disease. For himself, he was one of those who held the opinion that all the pestilences which visited us were more or less amenable to medical treatment, and it was stated in the newspapers that the remedies employed by Mr. Worms had in many instances proved successful. He should very much like to learn the particulars of the experiments made by that gentleman, and it was, he believed, the duty of the Government to lay any information they may obtain on the subject upon the table of the House at the earliest possible moment.
MR. BARINGsaid, he could assure his hon. Friend that the Government were fully sensible of the importance and interest attaching to the experimental treatment of animals affected with the cattle disease, and their attention was drawn to the subject at the very commencement of the outbreak in this country. As the House was aware, a Royal Commission was appointed for the express purpose, among others, of inquiring into the mode of treatment likely to prove successful in the case of animals affected with the plague, and the Government thought it would be far better to intrust such an inquiry to one authority, instead of committing it to the care of two separate bodies. That Commission had not neglected their duty. On the contrary, they had prepared a scheme of the most exhaustive character, for the purpose of giving to the world the most complete and accurate information with regard to the nature of the disease, the different modes of treatment, contagion, and other matters most interesting to the public and most likely to be attended with advantage on future occasions. The nature of the scheme was most fully described in the second Report of the Royal Commission, which his hon. Friend had probably not yet seen. He would find that not only many eminent veterinary surgeons, but also men of distinction in the medical profession had been engaged in conducting the inquiries, and he would find certain general statements made regarding the result of their labours. The Commissioners stated that no remedy which had hitherto been discovered could be relied upon, that vaccination had not proved a safeguard, and that they purposed giving the public more details with reference to inoculation. The Commissioners, in their third and final Report, promise to give full and complete accounts of the experiments which had been made, 1317 and the results of investigations which had been instituted by the medical gentlemen to whom they had been intrusted. Under those circumstances, it would have been impossible for the Government up to the present time to furnish the House with complete information upon the subject. [An hon. MEMBER: When will it be presented to the House?] Of course, the third Report of the Commissioners would be presented as soon as it was made.