216 



, DISEASES OF POULTEY. 



THE EPIDEMIC OP LAST YEAR EPPOETS TO PIND OUT WHAT IT WAS. 



The description given in last report of the disease which was general in the 

 district, with such fatal eflfect, attracted wide attention. Many letters were received 

 giving various opinions as to its nature, and every efifort was made to arrive at a 

 correct conclusion. With this object in view, the remains of one of the farm fowls, 

 which had died from the disease, was sent to Professor "Wesley Mills, of the Physiolo- 

 gical Laboratory of McGrill University, Montreal, a gentleman well known not only 

 as a skilled physician and lecturer, but as an authority on the diseases of animals and 

 the philanthropic interest he takes in the same. Dr. Mills was given a full descrip- 

 tion of the disease, and was requested to give his opinion as to its nature. In the 

 kindest manner possible he at once expressed his interest in the matter and 

 expressed his intention, with Dr. Johnston, Demonstrator of Pathology of McGill, to 

 have a post mortem made of the body of the fowl sent and to report on the same. At 

 the same time he asked to have any live fowls which were suffering from the disease 

 sent to him. Fortunately no other of the farm stock was sick at the time, nor 

 did others become so afterwards from the same ailment. The following will show 

 that the examination by Dr. Mills had a negative result : — 



'* Physoloqical Laboratory, McGill University, 



" Montreal, 19th Dec, 1890. 



" Manager of the Poultry Department, 



" Experimental Farm, Ottawa. 



" Dear Sir, — A post mortem examination of the P. Eock fowl you were good 

 enough to forward, showed extreme emaciation, and pronounced pallor of parts 

 generally. There were no evidences of any organic or zymotic disease. Dr. John- 

 ston, Demonstrator of Pathology, inoculated some animals, including fowls, with the 

 blood of this bird, but with negative results. 



" Taking everything into account, I am inclined to think that the symptoms, &c., 

 of the affected birds are indicative of aprofound alteration in nutrition, to be explained 

 by something in the conditions under which the bird lived. 



" Truly yours, 



" Wesley Mills, M.D." 



In connection with the foregoing and as instance of the interest taken in the 

 subject, the following extract from a letter received from Dr. J. Fitz Mathew, of Dau- 

 phin, Dauphin Co., Pa., author of the " British Colonist in America," is given. He 

 says : " I am interested in your report of the chicken disease in the Ottawa district. 

 I should suspect tuberculosis from the symptoms. Numbers of fowls die of it. In 

 France, on one occasion, forty died (about) of tuberculosis from eating the sputa of 

 a consumptive man, the attendant. I would advise an examination of the lungs and 

 stomach." Dr. Mathew was informed of the result of the investigation by Professor 

 Wesley Mills and in return wrote : — " I only made the suggestion of a diagnosis of 

 the fowls, for the case is most interesting, especially at a time when tuberculous 

 affections are occupying the attention of the medical faculty throughout the woi-ld. 

 I enclose a few remarks on tuberculosis in fowls, which may be thought of service. 

 I would suggest that the next case of this disease — which I believe to oe tuberculous 

 — you can get hold of, you submit to the McG-ill University experts for examination 

 for the ' bacilli of tuberculosis,' slender bodies from xririr ^ tsuis °^ ^^ ^^^^ long. 



