336 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
It may be well to add a brief account of the symptoms and the progress of the dis- 
ease, as observed in experimental pig B, a sow pig, about fourteen weeks old, and of 
mixed Poland China and Berkshire stock. Pig B was put in pen No. 3, together with 
pig No. 6, on September 24. The same was and remained perfectly healthy 1 until Octo- 
ber 2, w hen the first symptoms of disease made their appearance. I find in my diary 
the following notes : 
October 2.—Pig B shows symptoms of sickness; sneezes; has an eruption on both 
ears; is not quite as lively as it used to be; appetite is diminished ; curl is out of its 
tail. 
October 3.—Pig B has but little appetite; is decidedly sick. In afternoon shows 
unmistakable symptoms of sickness; ears are drooping ; no appetite; great tendency 
to lie down in a corner; hides its nose in the bedding. . 
October 4.—Pig B about the same as yesterday ; has eaten a little. 
October 5.—Pig 5B hides its nose in the bedding ; h as no appetite whatever; emacia- 
tion has taken place. B, although a week ago a better and heavier pig than C, a full 
sister, and of the same litter, i is how considerably lighter. 
October 7. —Pig B very sick; still, seems to have a desire to eat, but takes hold of an 
ear of corn so feebly as to make it ‘appear that it has not sufficient strength in the 
jaws to shell the corn; gave it, therefore, shelled. 
October 8.—Pig B very sick ; ‘hides in its corner; ears are cold; other parts of the 
body warm; no appetite ; ereat indifference to surroundings ; emaciation rapid. 
October 9,-Pig B about the same as yesterday. 
October 10.—Pig B is getting worse; does not eat anything. 
October 11.—Pig B found dead in its pen in the morning, 
These three cases show that the symptoms vary in different cases, 
and that those which are constant can scarcely be considered as very 
characteristic. Still, if the various symptoms presented by an indi- 
vidual animal are taken as a whole, a diagnostic mistake is scarcely 
possible. 
The diagnosis is very easy, especially if swine-plague is known to be 
prevailing in the neighborhood, or has already made its appearance in 
the herd, and if the anamnesis, and the fact that many animals are 
attacked at once, or within a short time and in rapid succession, are 
taken into consideration. As symptoms of special ‘diagnostic value, 
scarcely ever absent in any case, may be mentioned the drooping of 
the ears and of the head; more or less coughing; the dull look of the 
eyes; the staring appearance of the coat of hair; the partial or total 
want of appetite for food; the vitiated appetite for excrements; the 
rapid emaciation; the great debility; the weak and undecided, fre- 
quently staggeri ing, gait; the great indifference to surroundings ; the 
tendency to lie down in a dark corner, and to hide the nose, or even 
the whole head in the bedding, and particularly the specific, offensive 
smell, and the peculiar color of the excrements. This symptom is al- 
ways present, at least in an advanced stage of the disease, no matter 
whether constipation or diarrhea is existing. As other characteristic 
symptoms, though not present in every animal, deserve to be men- 
tioned: frequent sneezing; bleeding from the nose; swelling of the 
eyelids; accumulation of mucus in the inner canthi of the eyes; at- 
tempts to vomit, or real vomiting; accelerated and. difficult breathing; ; 
thumping or spasmodic contraction of the abdominal muscles (flanks) 
at each breath, and a peculiar, faint and hoarse voice in the last stages 
of the disease. 
3. THE PROGNOSIS AND TERMINATION. 
The prognosis is decidedly unfavorable, but is the more so the younger 
the animals or the larger the herd: Among pigs less than three months 
old the mortality may “be set down as from 90 to 100 per cent.; among 
animals from three to six or seven months old the same is from 75 to 90 
per cent.; while among older animals that have been well kept and are 
