LIVESTOCK PARASITOLOGY — SCHWARTZ 345 



apparently well entrenched in the United States, because by 1795 the 

 State, legislature of North Carolina prohibited by law the driving of 

 any cattle from the low coastal areas to the highland parts of that 

 State between the first day of April and the first day of November. 

 In 1814 Virginia barred cattle from certain parts of South Carolina, 

 and in 1836 North Carolina barred cattle from South Carolina and 

 Georgia, between the dates aforementioned. Despite these and simi- 

 lar restrictions, tick fever continued to spread with the growth of 

 the livestock industry and the development of transportation facili- 

 ties and markets. Gradually it spread over the entire South, and often 

 invaded different sections of the North. In 1867 the Kansas Legisla- 

 ture appealed to Congress to authorize the Department of Agricul- 

 ture to investigate Texas fever. By 1877 the disease had caused 

 much harm throughout the country and continued to spread, despite 

 the energetic methods that were being adopted to stem its tide. When 

 the overland movement of cattle proved difficult or illegal, animals 

 were moved by boat and landed in northern markets, with the result 

 that their contact with northern cattle decimated prize herds that 

 were being established after the Civil War. 



An investigation was made in 1868, partly at the instigation of 

 stockmen and partly under Federal auspices, by Prof. John Gamgee, 

 a British expert on animal diseases, assisted by two medical officers of 

 the United States Army and others. Among the conclusions reached 

 were that cattle "become affected in consequence of the nature of the 

 soil and vegetation on which they are fed, and the water which they 

 drink." With regard to the popular idea then prevalent that ticks had 

 something to do with the disease, Gamgee stated "that there is not the 

 slightest foundation for the view that ticks disseminate the disease." 

 In another place Gamgee stated, "The tick theory has acquired renown 

 during the past summer but little thought should have satisfied any- 

 one of the absurdity of the idea." Salmon, who in 1879 investigated 

 tick fever under a commission from the Department of Agriculture, 

 reported in 1880 as follows : "The tick theory scarcely explains a single 

 one of the many peculiar phenomena of the disease," a conclusion 

 which was generally shared at the time by those best informed on 

 animal diseaes. 



Following the organization of the Bureau of Animal Industry in 

 1884, and the opening at the same time of an experiment station on the 

 outskirts of Washington, D. C, as part of that Bureau, an opportunity 

 was afforded to the handful of young researchers whom Salmon had 

 collected, to investigate the most pressing livestock maladies that were 

 exacting a severe toll from the resources of farmers and stockmen. 

 In 1888 studies on tick fever were already in progress. In that year 

 Theobald Smith, the leading investigator of Salmon's small coterie of 



