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CEREBRO SPINAL MENINGITIS. 



This liighly fatal disease among horses and mules has fortu- 

 nately not spread to the extent that it was feared might result 

 from the heavy rains following a prolonged drought. The out- 

 break at Fort Shafter resulting in the death of four mules may 

 possibly be ascribed to some other cause, that is, poisoning with 

 a weed contained in the hay (imported from California) which 

 was being fed to these animals at the time of their death. Fortu- 

 nately some of this hay was secured, and as will be seen from the 

 appended letter from Mr. Rock, botanist to the College of Hawaii, 

 the hay contains not less than ten per cent, of the poisonous weed 

 in cjuestion. What remains of the bale, about 40 lbs., is being fed 

 to a mule in order to ascertain whether the weed in question could 

 have been the direct cause of the death of these four mules. 



On the other hand, Dr. Fitzgerald reports an extensive out- 

 break of cerebro-spinal meningitis on the Island of IMolokai, with 

 30 or 40 animals affected with about ten deaths. He also reports 

 a number of scattered cases of the same disease on the Island of 

 Maui. From Hawaii and Kauai no definite information has been 

 received, so it is to be presumed that, for the present at least, the 

 danger of a severe outbreak seems to have passed. 



RABIES AND HYDROPHOBIA. 



The newspapers from California and adjoining states and the 

 official reports of live stock commissions and live stock sanitary 

 boards indicate that this disease is far from being suppressed, and 

 the number of human beings, especially children, reported to have 

 been bitten by mad dogs seems to be constantly increasing. On 

 top of that it appears that the health authorities of San Fran- 

 cisco have been prevailed upon to rescind the muzzling act, on ac- 

 count of the hot weather, and substituting it with an order that all 

 dogs must be in leash when on public highways or streets. This 

 is the same fatal mistake that has perpetuated the disease in so 

 many other countries, causing numbers of deaths and untold 

 suft'ering. Only those countries which have enforced the contin- 

 uous muzzling of all dogs in public places, in connection with 

 stringent quarantine of all imported dogs, have succeeded in ex- 

 terminating the disease. From personal observations for the past 

 twenty years I feel convinced that this abrogation of the muzzling 

 act in San Francisco will result in an immediate increase in the 

 number of cases of rabies, and it consequently becomes necessary 

 for us to increase our vigilance against the disease gaining an en- 

 trance here. For this reason I have to. express my appreciation 

 of the support of the Board in perfecting the dog quarantine sta- 

 tion to a point where even the most fastidious cannot raise a single 



