Death Among Swill-Fed Hogs. 77 



the swill, including the dish water, from a hotel. Upon inquiry he 

 found that powdered soap was being used in large quantities. The 

 swill from this place was stopped and the disease disappeared. 



In following up the line of inquiry which these experiences sug- 

 gested, it was found that there is among the more enterprising farmers 

 a quite general belief that these soaps, when given in considerable 

 quantities, are injurious and even fatal to hogs. The consensus of 

 opinion on this subject, together with the more definite observations of 

 Mr. Davey and Dr. McCrank, appeared to be so conclusive that it 

 seemed important to determine by careful experiment to what extent, if 

 at all, powdered soaps can be considered as the cause of death in this 

 class of outbreaks. To this end the experiment about to be described 

 was carried out. It shows that when certain of the powdered soaps 

 sold in the market are present in the food in relatively large quantities 

 a considerable percentage of the animals will sicken and many of them 

 will die. When, however, the soaps are added to the food in small 

 quantities (a dessert spoonful in the food for three pigs, twice daily) 

 no bad effects seem to follow. The cause of death, when it does occur, 

 is probably due, as shown by the chemical analyses, to the free alkah, 

 sodium carbonate or washing soda, which they contain. 



EXPERIMENT IN FEEDING POWDERED SOAPS TO 



PIGS. 



In the experiment three of the commonly used powdered soaps were 

 selected. They are here designated as soaps A, B and C. Nine pigs 

 weighing about 20 pounds each were taken. They were given their 

 regular food, grain mixed in water and some separator milk. To this 

 was added a definite quantity of the soaps, which were dissolved and 

 thoroughly mixed in the food twice daily. 



Soap A. 



July 10. Pigs Nos. I, 2 and 3 were placed in pen No. i. They were 

 given, night and morning, regular rations as previously 

 described, to which were added two ounces of Soap A. 



July 14. Pigs well. Quantity of soap given increased to four ounces. 



July 18. Pig No. I has profuse diarrhoea; others well. 



