126 ANNUAL RfiPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



Service. lu such cases tbe head and all parts attached to it are 

 condemned and the remainder of the carcass is adjudged in 

 accordance with the well established principles of meat hygiene. 



ABORTION. Only a few reports and inquiries in reference to 

 this disease have been received. This may indicate that the disease 

 is less prevalent than formerly, or that herd owners are better 

 informed regarding it. There is nothing to be added at this time 

 to the discussion in the last report of the character and the treat- 

 ment of his disease, except to say that one of the widely heralded 

 secret "abortion cures" then referred to has since been analyzed 

 bv the United States Bureau of Animal Industrv and found to be 

 nothing more than a weak solution of carbolic acid and oil of cloves. 



ANTHRAX. This disease has occurred during the past year on 

 thirty-two premises in the following counties on which it was not 

 previously known to exist: Berks, Bradford, -Chester, McKean, 

 Montgomery, Potter, Susquehanna, Tioga and Warren. Ninety 

 cattle, ten horses and three pigs had died before the disease was 

 reported and investigated, and the necessary measures applied for 

 its control. Three men were infected Avith the disease in handling 

 hides from diseased animals, or articles contaminated with the 

 blood, and one man died. Anthrax was also reported in Bradford 

 county on another farm in addition to those included in the above 

 figures; on premises in Bucks, Erie and Franklin counties, where the 

 disease had not been previously reported; and also in two counties, 

 Blair and Somerset ,from which no reports of anthrax had pre- 

 viously been received, but in these cases it was established by 

 laboratory examination that the disease was not anthrax. 



The method of dealing with the disease during the last year has 

 been similar to that followed in previous years and described in 

 detail in the last annual report. After the diagnosis has been 

 established by examination of blood from an ear, cut from a dead 

 animal and forwarded to the laboratory, or when the history, 

 symptons, etc., furnish reasonable grounds for a diagnosis of 

 anthrax, the carcasses of dead animals are promptly disposed of in 

 the manner described in previous reports and the necessary 

 measures are taken to protect the exposed animals by vaccination. 



In this way, 539 cattle and thirty-four horses were vaccinated. In 

 addition to tliese animals, there were also re-vaccinated on farms 

 where the disease was discovered last year, or previously, 286 cattle 

 and 35 sheep in the following counties: Bradford, Chester, Jeffer- 

 son, Lackawanna, Potter, Susquehanna and Tioga, making a total 

 of 825 cattle, 34 horses and 35 sheep vaccinated on forty-six 

 premises. 



BLACKLEG. During the year twenty-eight deaths from this dis- 

 ease were reported in Blair, Bradford, Clarion, Erie, Forest, Ly- 

 coming, Somerset, Susquehanna, Potter, Warren, Wayne and 

 Wyoming counties. The surviving susceptible animals on the 

 eighty farms where the disease appeared, 967 in number, were 

 vaccinated, and after this operation was completed, no additional 

 losses were reported. 



RABIES. During the year this disease occurred in thirty count- 

 ies, as follows: Adams, Allegheny, Beaver, Berks, Butler, Ches- 

 ter, Columbia, Cumberland, Delaware, Erie, Fayette, Franklin, 

 Huntingdon, Lackawanna, Lawrence, Lycoming, McKean, Mont- 



