Letter from the Commissioner of Agriculture to the Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture : communicating information on the subject of pleuro-pneumonia among cattle.

  • Le Duc, William Gates, 1823-1917.
Date:
[1879?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letter from the Commissioner of Agriculture to the Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture : communicating information on the subject of pleuro-pneumonia among cattle. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    the execution of their service, to the governor and council; and the governor is here- by authorized to draw his warrant therefor upon the treasury. Sec. 6. This act shall take effect from its passage, and continue in force for the term of one year thereafter, and no longer. [Approved April 4, I860.] Ou the 12th of June, 1860, the following additional acts were passed : AN ACT concerning contagious disease among cattle. SECTION 1. The selectmen of towns, and the mayor and aldermen of cities, in case of the existence in this commonwealth of the disease called plenro-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 he secured or collected in some suitable place or places within such city or town, and kept iso- lated ; and when taken from the possessiou of their owners, to be maintained, one- fifth of the expense thereof to be paid by the town or cit y wherein the animal is kept, and four-fifths at the expense of the commonwealth, suc h isolation to continue so long as the existence of such disease or other circumstances renders the same necessary. Sec 2. Said selectmen and mayor and aldermen, when any such animal is adjudged by veterinary surgeon, or physician by them selected, to he infected with the disease called pleuro-pneumonia, or any other contagious disease, may, in their discretion, order such diseased animal to he forthwith killed and buried at the expense of such town or city. Sec. 3. Such 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. Sec. 4. Said selectmen and mayor and aldermen are hereby authorized to prohibit the departure of cattle from any inelosure, or to exclude cattle therefrom. Sec. 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 regula- tions, and may take all other necessary measures for the enforcement of such prohibi- tion, and also, for preventing the spread of any such disease among the cattle in their respective towns and cities, and the immediate vicinity thereof. Sec. 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. Sec. 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 effected with such disease, or known to have been exposed thereto w ithin one year from such sale or disposal, shall be punished by fine not exceeding live hundred dollars, or by im- prisonment not exceeding one year. Sec. 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 pun- ished by fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year. SEC. 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 not ice to the selectmen of the town or mayor and alderman of the city where such cattle may bo kept, and for failure so to do shall be punished by a fine not exceeding live hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year. Sec. 10. Any town or city whose officers shall neglect or refuse to carry into effect the provisions of section one, two, three, four, five, six, and seven, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars for each day's neglect. Sec. 11. All appraisals made under the provisions of this act shall be in writing, and signed by the appraisers, and the same shall be certified to the governor and council, and to the treasurer of the several towns and cities wherein the cattle ap- praised belong, by the selectmen and mayors and aldermen respectively. Sec. 12. The selectmen of the towns and mayor and aldermen of the cities, are here- by authorized, when in their judgment it shall be necessary to carry into effect the purposes of this act, to take and hold possession, for a term not exceeding one year, within their respective towns and cities, of any lands, without buildings other than