VETERINARY MEDICINE. 1083 



jiniuials. li. suipcstifcr is a saprophyte present in the iutestines of healthy 

 swine, havinjj been fonnd in the intestinal contents in Til of (iUO normal iiogs 

 examined. It was isolated in 7G of 271 examinations made of animals affected 

 with hog cholera. Swine inoculated with B. futipcstifcr were not immune to 

 liog cholera. The ultravisible virus was present in the blood, bile, and urine, 

 the urine of diseased hogs being highly infectious. It does not appear to occur 

 regularly in the feces, as filtrates from the intestinal contents of 4 affected hogs 

 examined, w'hich exliibited extensive intestinal lesions, were not infectious. 



The virus retained its virulence for 23 days when kept in the refrigerator 

 anil for 10 weeks when kept at room temperature. In serum it resisted heating 

 2 hours at 58° C, but was destroyed at the end of 1 hour when exposed to a 

 temperature of 78°. The blood continues virulent after 24 hours of refrigera- 

 tion at —18°. Twenty-four hours drying of the virus at 27° in blood and 

 serum does not destroy it. The limit, of resistance appears to be close to G0°. 

 A 0.1 per cent solution of bicholrid of mercury used in the proportion of 1 : 2 

 and a 5 per cent solution of carbolized glycerin used in the proportion of 2: ~) 

 did not kill the virus in defibrinated blood after 8 days' contact. In buried 

 organs putrefaction destroys the virus in from 1 to 4 weeks. Horses, cattle, 

 iloukeys, goats, dogs, cats, fowls, pigeons, rabbits, guinea pigs, wild and tame 

 rats, and gray and w'hite mice are resistant to the virus. The serum from 

 iiyperimmunized hogs showed a strong protective power. 



The swine plague (" schweineseuche ") bacteria found in the lung lesions in 

 the course of hog cholera are considered as constant but harmle.ss organisms of 

 the respiratory passages of healthy pigs and their i)athogenicity as due to the 

 diminished resistance in animals affected with hog cholera. 



A bililiograiihical list is appended. 



Suggestions for a.n org'anized plan to combat hog' cholera, A. D. Mki.vin 

 (WuUnvrs:' Farmer, S'l [IDOV), No. 11, p. 385). — In order that the possibilities 

 of well-directed work may be brought to the attention of those who may in the 

 future have hog cholera to deal with, the author has outlined the following 

 suggestions for combating the disease through serum immunization as worked 

 out i»y the Bureau of Animal Industry of this Department. 



"The serum should be prepareil by the State exiieriment stations or by live 

 stock sanitary boards which are lu'operly equipped with lalxtratory facilities, 

 the etticacy of all seriini to he determined by the laboratories l)eforc distribution. 



"The field application of the serum should be in the hands of the State live 

 stock sanitary Itoanl or State veterinarian. 



"The State should be organized into districts, each in charge of a deputy 

 State veterinarian or a deputy appointed by the live stock sanitary board. 

 These districts should be small' enough to permit tlu' deputy to exercise close 

 watch over them. 



"The deputy State veterinarian should keeji a supply of serum on hand to 

 see that i>rompt action is taken when infection a|ti)ears. 



" Hog raisers generally throughout the Stat(> should be informed when this 

 serum is available for distribution, and if necessary compulsory uotitication of 

 the presence of disea.se in a herd should be imposed. 



" I'pon notification to the deputy in charge of the district or the State live 

 stock sanitary board or State veterinarian that hog cholera has ait|>eared in a 

 I erlain neighborhood the diseased herd or herds should be innnediately (luaran- 

 tined, the premises disinfected as thoroughly as possible, and all hogs on the 

 farm which have been exposed or which are not visibly ill slionUl ln' treated 

 with the serum alone. All hogs on the farm which have not been exposed 

 should be treated by what is termed the serum-simultaneous ni(>thod. and of 

 course the i»rompt burning or burial of dead animals should be enforced. At 



