482 Ahs&act Report of Arjricidtnral Discussions. 



Tlie disease appears to have been known to pig-factors in Bristol 

 and its neighbourhood for a considerable number of years ; but in 

 their exjierionce until lately it only occurred in spoi-adic or isolated 

 cases. Within the last year or two, however, it has become epidemic. 

 I am almost afraid to repeat all that I have heard about it ; but two 

 or three men largely concerned in the jiig-trade have assured mo 

 that from 10,000 to 15,000 pigs have died in the south and south- 

 west of England of this disease in the course of the last eighteen 

 months ; and if that be the case, surely it is high time that the 

 disorder should be seriously investigated. 



I would here otfer a cohjectiirr as to the causes of this disease 

 having become so rife dm-ing the last two years. Within ten or 

 fifteen years it has been ascertained that typhoid fever in man is much 

 moi'e prevalent in dry seasons than in wet ; in fact, that it never 

 becomes widely epidemic over the whole kingdom except in very dry 

 seasons. The reason 1 believe to be this. All those contagioiis 

 disorders are caused by organic poisons, wliich are thrown off from 

 the body in vari(jus forms. In these typhoid fevers they are thrown 

 oif by the bowels in a liquid state. Now, in the liquid state all these 

 poisons perish very quicldy. But there is a fundamental law which 

 has never been sufficiently dwelt upon in relation to all these cq)i- 

 demic disorders, wliich is this, that when once these poisons pass into 

 a dried state, if they can be kept dry, they will retain tlieir powers 

 for almost any period. Thus we are all familiar with the fact that 

 dry vaccine matter will keep good for many yeai-s. Now my conjec- 

 tui'c is that the poisonous germs thrown oft' in this disorder of the 

 pig within the last two years have, in consequence of the great dryness 

 of the seasons, been preserved to a nmch larger extent than common in 

 the dry state, and in that way have been disseminated over the country. 



In bringing these observations to a close I shall make one or two 

 suggestions of a practical kind, because this is an eminently practical 

 Society, and your object is to turn the knowledge here acquired to 

 practical and useful purposes. I ventm-e, therefore, to say a word or 

 two on the subject of Prevention. I have stated my belief that this 

 ■disease is the coimterj)art of typhoid fever in man. Now it is quite a 

 settled jwint that this fever is a contagious disorder, chiefly propagated 

 by discharges from the bowels. Now if the two diseases are the 

 analogues one of the other, the same would hold good of the disorder 

 in the pig. I believe that it is a contagious disorder, and that it is 

 propagated mainly by the discharges from those sores in the intestines 

 which constitute the specific character of the disease. It is the jjoison 

 which finds its way through the system of the animal, and is thence cast 

 out ui)on the groimd. If pigs in the early stage of the disorder are 

 sent by steamboat, they taint the steamboat. In like manner they 

 taint the market, the stye, and the drains of the stye. The su^estions, 

 then, which I would oii'er are these : — 



1. — Try to recognise the disorder in its earliest stages. 



2. — Separate the sick from the iminfected without the least delay. 



3. — And — this is fundamental to my mind — immediately slaughter 

 the affected animals. 



