192 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



posed prevalence of this disease, a report reached the Board 

 of Agriculture, that the cattle on the Agricultural College 

 farm at Amherst were infected with it. And the members, 

 in their capacity of overseers of the college, passed a resolve 

 requesting the Commissioners to make a careful examination 

 of the stock and its condition. Complj'ing Avith this request, 

 Dr. E. F. Thayer, the veterinarian of the Board, made the 

 examination, and reported to the overseers that " the ap- 

 pearance of the animals, without exception, was that of 

 perfect health. Not one could be found that required physi- 

 cal examination : percussion and auscultation were tried on 

 one without eliciting other than a normal and healthy con- 

 dition." On the 21st of October a communication was 

 received from the Cattle Commissioners of Rhode Island, 

 giving notice that an alarming disease existed among the 

 cattle on the farm of a Mr. Jenks of Cumberland in that 

 State, caused by a drove of calves (forty-seven in number) 

 purchased by him of H. O. Goodenow of Brighton in this 

 State. This was followed by another on the 23d, stating 

 that the disease was considered contagious, that the Com- 

 missioners had taken possession of the herd, and that all 

 which did not previously die would be slaughtered on the 

 25th, and inviting our Board to co-operate in an examination 

 of the animals. The invitation was accepted by two of our 

 number, and, though thirty-five of the animals were dead on 

 their arrival, two were killed for the examination. The 

 bronchial tubes of these were found filled with parasitic 

 worms, and these were unmistakably the cause of the death 

 of most of the herd by suffocation. This is a disease not 

 unknown to veterinary science, though rarely encountered 

 here, and some information respecting it may be of public 

 utility. It is called "hoose," or "verminous bronchitis," 

 and may exist in calves, lambs, and pigs. Youatt says of it, 

 " In some years this epidemic disease destroys a great many 

 cattle. In the winter of 1830 and the spring of 1831 thou- 

 sands of young cattle perished in every part of the country. 

 Some of them were carefully examined after death, and the 

 membrane lining the windpipe was found to be inflamed, and 

 the inflammation extendinsc down to and involvinsc the small 

 passages leading to the air-cells of the lungs, and the pas- 

 sages filled with worms." Professor Williams writes, " Tliis 



