POWDERED SOAP AS A CAUSE OF DEATH 

 AMONG SWILL-FED HOGS. 



It is a common experience of those who are engaged in the investi- 

 gation ot animal diseases to occasionally find outbreaks of a peculiar 

 nature among swill-fed hogs. By these are meant herds of greater or 

 less size, usually kept near or within the outskirts of our villages or 

 small cities, and which are fed upon the kitchen refuse, often includ- 

 ing the dish water, collected from hotels, boarding houses and private 

 dwellings. The cause of death in these outbreaks is, in this state, at 

 least, usually attributed to hog cholera. The basis lor this popular 

 diagnosis seems to be in the similarity of certain of the symptoms 

 manifested by these animals to those of hog cholera, such, for example, 

 as diarrhoea and partial paralysis, and the fact that a majority of those 

 attacked die. The course of the disease is irregular, deaths occurring 

 in from a few hours to several days after the symptoms appear. 



During the past year I have had occasion to make investigations 

 into the nature of several of these outbreaks of a supposedly infec- 

 tious disease. In a few of these epizootics hog cholera or swine 

 plague was easily demonstrated. In certain others, however, these or 

 other infectious diseases could not be found. The animals were usu- 

 ally fed the kitchen slops collected from hotels and boarding houses. 

 The tissue changes in the animals examined were atypical of any 

 known disease, and notwithstanding the bacteriological examinations 

 which were made, together with animal inoculations with pieces of the 

 diseased organs, the cause of death remained undetermined. The 

 post mortem examinations showed in nearly all of these animals 

 enlarged and dark colored lymphatic glands, especially those of the 

 mesentery. The blood vessels of the mesentery were very much dis- 

 tended with blood. The liver and kidneys were usually not affected, 

 but occasionally these organs were involved. Where there had been 

 marked nervous symptoms the brain was much congested. Occasion- 

 ally the lungs contained areas of collapse. The intestines were, as a 

 rule, pale and the mucous membrane seemed to be abnormally shiny. 



