SECRETARY'S REPORT. 6§ 



the mesenteric g-lands in a manner similar to consumption in the 

 lungs. The scrofulous taint has been known to be so strong as to 

 affect the foetus, and lambs have occasionally been born with it, 

 but much oftener they show it at an early age, and any affected in 

 this way are liable to fall an easy prey to any ordinary or prevail- 

 ing disease which develops in such with unusual severity. Sheep 

 are also liable to several diseases of the brain and of the respiratory 

 and digestive organs. Epilepsy, or "fits," and rheumatism some- 

 times occur. 



Swine are subject to nearly the same hereditary diseases as sheep. 

 Epilepsy is more common with them than with the latter, and they 

 are more liable to scrofula than any other domestic animals. 



When properly and carefully managed, swine are not ordinarily 

 very liable to disease, but when, as too often kept in small, damp, 

 filthy styes, and obliged constantly to inhale noxious effluvia, and 

 to eat unsuitable food, we cannot wonder either that they become 

 victims of disease or transmit to their progeny a weak and sickly 

 organization. Swine are not naturally the dirty beasts which 

 many suppose. "Wallowing in the mire," so proverbial of them, 

 is rather from a wish for protection from insects and for coolness, 

 than from any inherent love of filth, and if well cared for they will 

 be comparatively cleanly. 



The practice of close breeding, which is probably carried to 

 greater extent with swine than with any other domestic animal, 

 undoubtedly contributes to their liability to hereditary diseases, 

 and when those possessing any such diseases are coupled, the ruin 

 of the stock is easily and quickly effected, for as already stated, 

 they are propagated by either parent, and always most certainly 

 and in most aggravated form, when occurring in both. 



With regard to hereditary diseases, it is eminently true that "an 

 ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." As a general and 

 almost invariable rule, animals possessing either defects or a ten- 

 dency to disease should not be employed for breeding. If, how- 

 ever, for special reasons it seems desirable to breed from one which 

 has some slight defect of symmetry, or a faint tendency to disease, 

 although for the latter it is doubtful if the possession of any good 

 qualities can fully compensate, it should be mated with one which 

 excels in every respect in which the other is deficient, and on no 

 account with one which is near of kin to it. 



Notwithstanding the importance due to the subject of hereditary 

 diseases, it is also true that few diseases invariably owe their de- 



