322 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



factured in Italy, and ;that in that country and in several of the 

 smaller states of Southern Europe (Roumania, Servia, Bulgaria, 

 Bosnia,) it has been used with great success for ten years. Such 

 claims are probably overdrawn ; since, if they were true, countries 

 like Germany, Austria-Hungary, France, England, Switzerland 

 and Denmark would long ago have adopted this vaccine; as all 

 these countries suffer from hog cholera, and are far more ad- 

 vanced in veterinary matters than Italy, and the other unimportant 

 states mentioned. Moreover, tests made by the U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture, and reported in circular No. 27, show that samples 

 bought on the market and used according to directions by compe- 

 tent veterinarians failed to protect hogs against cholera. I have 

 had an opportunity to note the lack of value of this foreign vaccine 

 in neighborhoods where several hundred hogs had been vaccinated, 

 and have reinoculated with success some of these herds with the 

 "immunizing serum" which we produce at the Experiment Sta- 

 tion. 



One farmer was of the opinion that this Italian vaccine gave 

 his hogs the disease; as the herd was perfectly healthy before 

 vaccination. Such an accident could happen by the use of a "vac- 

 cine" not sufficiently modified, since a vaccine, unlike the "anti- 

 toxic serum," is made from disease-producing germs, by various 

 processes of weakening their virulence. There is the possibility, 

 however, that the disease was carried in from infected farms in 

 the neighborhood. Whatever may be true in this particular case, 

 we should not overlook the possibility of giving cholera by the 

 use of these foreign vaccines when improperly modified. But a 

 matter of much graver concern is the possibility of introducing an 

 entirely new swine disease into this country, namely, the "swine 

 erysipelas" of Europe (the "rouget" of France and "Schweine 

 Rothlauf" of Germany), a disease which, up to the present, we 

 have fortunately escaped. Since "swine erysipelas" is very prev- 

 alent in Europe and occurs in herds at the same time with 

 cholera, it is quite possible that the so-called vaccines which are 

 sent to this country for use against cholera, may also contain the 

 germs of the "swine erysipelas," and through these vaccines infect 

 the hogs of America. In my opinion, such vaccines should be as 

 rigidly quarantined against as "foot-and-mouth-disease," until their 

 harmlessness has been thoroughly established by the proper au- 

 thorities, namely, the U. S. Department of Agriculture, charged 

 with the duty of preventing the introduction of animal diseases 

 from foreign countries. 



