236 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



his address on "The Influence of Proper Sanitary Conditions in 

 the Prevention of Swine Diseases." 



THE INFLUENCE OF PROPER SANITARY CONDITIONS IN THE 

 PREVENTION OF SWINE DISEASES. 



J. H. MCNEILL, AMES, IOWA. 



Sanitary science is the study of the causes of disease and the influ- 

 ences which affect the operation of these causes favorably and unfavor- 

 ably and embraces a wide range of subjects which can be dealt with in 

 this paper only as they pertain to the conditions which operate un- 

 favorably and predisposes to certain of the more common and fatal dis- 

 eases of swine, both of an infectious and non-infectious nature. 



We have discovered that curative medicine plays but an unimportant 

 part in the eradication of animal plagues, but that hygiene and pre- 

 ventive medicines are vastly more important, and have wielded a greater 

 influence than all the ills and potions given since the days of Adam. 



The study of the causation of disease is ever advancing into hitherto 

 unexplored fields, and one can imagine that within the period of only 

 a few years many new and important discoveries will have been made 

 which are not now considered within practical solution even by the most 

 optimistic dreamer. 



We no longer believe that disease is of supernatural origin, and the 

 most of us at least do not follow the teachings of the soothsayers and 

 priests, nor make idolotrous prayers and sacrifices when we are called 

 upon to check the spread of an infectious disease, but on the contrary we 

 get very busy with our coal-tar disinfectants and institute a general clean- 

 ing up. 



In the early Christian ages the sign of the cross was burned upon 

 the heads of infected or exposed animals in the hope of curing the one 

 and preventing the illness of the others. In the middle of the 19th cen- 

 tury, processions of Greek and Turkish priests walked barefoot through 

 the streets of Constantinople, uttering loud peals of deliverance from the 

 scourge that prevailed while the air was heavy and almost unbearable with 

 the odors from the putrifying matters that filled the streets. 



The adoption of the principles of sanitary science for the protection 

 of our herds and flocks has been very slow as compared to the advances 

 made in the improvement along the lines of breeding. Nothing permanent 

 is gained in raising a fine lot of animals and then by neglect allowing 

 them to become infected and die from some preventable infectious disease. 

 Why not pay some attention to the few principles that underlie this im- 

 portant subject, and not all to selection, pedigree and performance of the 

 individuals. 



We have been twenty centuries in reaching the present condition of 

 sanitary intelligence, but even at this day some of the most important 

 and simple sanitary measures are neglected by intelligent people, or when 

 applied to animals are opposed for financial reasons. It is a significant 

 fact that every attempt made on the part of sanitarians to prevent the 



