A Discourse on the Usefulness of Inoculation of the horned Cattle to prevent the contagious Distemper among them

A contagious distemper, raging through cattle, was noted to be similar to smallpox in its means of spreading. This led to the consideration of whether inoculation of the cattle was able to limit the spread of the disease to prevent the repeated reinfection of cattle who had survived an initial infection. The paper A Discourse on the Usefulness of Inoculation of the horned Cattle to prevent the contagious Distemper among them. In a letter to the Right Hon. George Earl of Macclesfield, P.R.S from Daniel Peter Layard, M.D. F.R.S. presents the results of work that was done to meet the challenge of "That before inoculation could be practiced on the horned Cattle, it was necessary to bring proofs, that this disease is not susceptible more than once; and also assurances, that a recovery from the distemper by inoculation guards the beast from a second infection".

The paper was presented to the Royal Society on February 2, 1758 and published in 1758 in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, Vol. 50, Part II, with text pages from 528 to 538. The paper, which has been disbound from the Transactions, measures approximately 6 x 8 ½ inches. The pages are tanned, but the text is clear and easily read. The overall condition of the item is good/very good.

The illustrations accompanying this description show the first page of the paper and two addional typical pages of text.

Daniel Peter Layard (1721-1802) was an English physician and midwife. Layard was a founder of the British Lying-in Hospital, of which he was later appointed a Vice President. On 20 June 1792 he was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Civil Law honoris causa at the University of Oxford. [Wikipedia]