HEMORRHAGIC SEPTICAMIA. 
Whether it is proper to speak of this as a disease or as a 
collection of diseases due to identical or similar germs may 
possibly be questioned, but for the present at least, and un- 
til we have more light on the subject, we may speak of it all 
as hemorrhagic septicemia. This disease is very interesting 
on account of several peculiarities. It is interesting because 
of its protean forms; it is serious because medical treatment 
so far as we know is absolutely useless and hopeless. We 
are utterly helpless in the matter of prevention because we 
have practically no information as to the method of infec- 
tion or method of spread. Those who have had a chance to 
study the various outbreaks in Minnesota have been quite 
unable to trace any connection between one outbreak and 
another, or to trace a previous history for any given out- 
break. It is proving interesting and important to those 
members of the veterinary profession who have been so for- 
tunate or unfortunate as to come into contact with it, be- 
cause of the extreme difficulty of makmg antemortem diag- 
noses. In some outbreaks that have been carefullyjstudied, 
antemortem diagnosis for the first case at least was appar- 
ently impossible; but on the other hand there have’always 
been plenty of opportunities for examinations post-mortem, 
and here the evidence is usually clear. 
There is a very practical side to this disease, especially 
when considered from the farmer’s standpoint. It appears 
suddenly and under all sorts of conditions; a number of ani- 
mals, usually a large proportion, die, and the disease disap- 
pears as suddenly as itcame. The owner has lost a certain 
amount of property, in live stock, without a trace of infor- 
mation as to whence the disease came or how soon the visit 
may be repeated. The owner would be especially interested 
in knowing the method of infection and the possible agencies 
through which his herd may receive a re-infection. If he- 
morrhagic septicemia, like glanders, comes by a specially 
introduced infection, then he has a certain proposition to 
