6 



volunteered through the cohunns of the Shinpo to ehicidale the 

 subject and to answer all questions pertaining" to it, submitting 

 those beyond his knowledge to this office. As this had just been 

 written a telephone message was received stating that five large 

 brood sows had died, while the two already sick seemed to be 

 getting better. It was therefore decided to go at once to Wa- 

 hiawa in order to ascertain, by post mortem examination of the 

 dead animals, whether the cause of death w'as really hog cholera 

 or whether faulty feeding or incidental poisoning of the feed 

 by lye, pearline or other dish-cleansing preparations mioht pos- 

 .sibly be held responsible. It was found that only one of the 

 hogs showed any of the symptoms generally accepted as pathog- 

 nomosic, that is, the ulcerations of the mucous membrane of the 

 small intestines at the exact place wdiere thev join the large intes- 

 tines, and these ulcers were so insignificant in size that it was 

 decided to await further development before resorting to the 

 serum treatment. In the meantime a chute was built for this 

 purpose and the following day a careful investigation of the food 

 supply, that is, the kitchen swill from the infantry and cavalry 

 messes at Schofield barracks, was undertaken. 



In this work I was kindly assisted by Doctor ]\Iason, the senior 

 veterinarian of the Fourth Cavalry, who accompanied me to all 

 the various kitchens from wdiich the concern in question obtains 

 its swill. It would seem that, for some reason or other, a bulletin 

 pertaining to the careful separation of edible swill from offal 

 without feed value, such as coffee grounds as well as sweepings 

 and other garbage, had been issued a few days previous, and 

 that the requisite receptacles, large galvanized iron barrels with 

 tight fitting covers, had been provided, at least three for each 

 company mess. An inspection of these receptacles, however, 

 showed in a number of cases that the one intended for the edible 

 swill contained both tin cans, lemon peels and coffee grounds, 

 and that the garbage cans contained much edible swill. In all 

 such cases the mess sergeants were sent for and the injurious 

 effect and heavy losses sustained by those who buy and ]iay for 

 the swill were explained to them. Inquiries were also made in 

 regard to the use of lye and washing jiowders in cleaning the 

 dishes and pans, but in no case could it be found that such i)oi- 

 sonous material had reached the swill barrels, even though it is 

 possible that more or less empty lye cans and similar containers 

 and cartons nia\' have been thrown into llum. It was explained 

 that in the future the swill from each mess will be kept se])arate 

 and fed to the same hogs every day in order that carelessness 

 may be traced lo the men guiltv of it, and it i^ hojied that this 

 measure will have the flesired effect. 



<')n a subsef|uent visit to the i)i.ggery it was found that .ill sick 

 hojrs seemed to be improving and that no new cases had deve- 

 loped, which speaks strongly in fa\iir of the disease not lieing 

 liosr cholera. 



