324 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
smell, and the peculiar color of the excrements. This last symptom is 
always present, at least in an advanced stage of the disease, no matter 
whether constipation or diarrhea is exisiting. Among other character- 
istic symptoms, which are not present in every animal, may be mentioned 
frequent sneezing; bleeding from the nose; swelling of the eyelids;‘ ac- 
cumulation of mucus in the inner canthi of the eyes; attempts to vomit, 
or real vomiting; accelerated and difficult breathing; thumping or 
spasmodic contraction of the abdominal muscles (flanks), and a pecu- 
liar, faint, and hoarse voice in the last stages of the disease. 
The duration of the disease varies according to the violence and seat 
of the attack and the age and constitution of the patient. Where the 
attack is violent, and its principal seat is located in one of the vital 
organs—such as the heart—the disease frequently terminates fatally in 
a few days, and sometimes even within twenty-four hours; but when 
the attack is of a mild character, and the heart is not seriously affected, 
and the animal is naturally strong and vigorous, one or two weeks 
usually intervene before death ensues. If the termination is not fatal, 
convalescence requires an equal and not unfrequently a much longer 
time. A perfect recovery seldom occurs; in most cases some lasting 
disorder remains behind and more or less interferes with the growth 
and fattening of the animal. Those that do recover make but very poor 
returns for the food consumed; hence from a pecuniary standpoint it 
makes but little difference to the owner whether the animal recovers or 
not. The attack is always more violent and fatal when large numbers 
of animals are closely confined together in small and dirty inclosures or 
in illy ventilated and filthy pens. 
The disease can have its seat in many different organs or parts of the 
body, and therefore produces a great variety of morbid changes. This 
accounts for its different aspect in different animals. In some cases the 
principal seat of the disease may be in the organs of respiration and 
circulation, and in others in the intestinal canal and organs of digestion. 
Death may therefore be the result of different causes in different cases. 
In some eases it results from a cessation of the functions of the heart, 
the lungs, &c., and in others it is in consequence of the inability of 
entirely different organs to perform their allotted functions. This being 
the case, the post-mortem appearances would necessarily greatly vary, 
but in all animals similarly affected the lesions and morbid changes 
were found identical. 
Perhaps the most important point to be determined by this investiga- 
tion was the contagious or non-contagious character of the disease. in 
order to do this a series of experiments were instituted and conducted 
solely with this end in view, by Drs. Detmers and Law. These ex- 
periments resulted in determining the fact that the disease is both 
infectious and contagious, and that it is not confined alone to swine, but 
that other animals may contract it in a mild form and retransmit it to 
swine in its most virulent and malignant character. 
On the 6th day of September, Dr. Detmers fed a portion of the stom- 
ach, the eecum, and the spleen of a pig that had died on that day to two 
healthy pigs. On the 19th of the same month they showed signs of ill- 
ness, and the symptoms continued to grow in intensity-until the 23d, 
when, finding that the animal must die in a few hours, one of them was 
killed by bleeding. The other pig was found dead in the pen on the 
morning of September 30. The symptoms and post mortem appearances 
were those of swine-plague, as they revealed the same lesions as those 
observed in an examination of the pig from which the diseased products 
had been taken for the purpose of infection. On the 24th day of Sep- 
