376 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
cated three years ago by Professor Axe, who successfully inoculated a 
pig with virns that had remained dried upon ivory points for twenty- 
six days. [t seemed important to test this by further experiment, as, 
upon this question depends the weighty one of arresting or putting an 
end to the plague by the extinction of its poison. 
Three pigs were inoculated with virulent products that had been 
dried on quills for ONE DAY, one with virus dried on the quill for FOUR 
DAYS, one for FIVE DAYS, and one for sIx DAyYs. The quills had been 
sent from New Jersey and North Carolina, wrapped in a simple paper 
covering, and therefore not in any way specially protected against 
the action of the air. Of the six inoculations, four took effect, and in 
the two exceptional cases the quills had been treated with disintectants 
before inoculation, so that the failure was to be expected. 
Virulence of the dried intestine.—In the case of the quills, the virus 
was dried quickly on account of the tenuity of the layer, and no time 
was allowed for decomposition. With the diseased intestine the drying 
in the free air and sun was necessarily slower, and more time was 
allowed for septic changes. Three pigs were inoculated with diseased 
intestine which had been dried for THREE and FOUR DAYS respectively. 
In one case the diseased product was from North Carolina. In all three 
cases the inoculation proved successful. The morbid product, therefore, 
even in comparatively thick layers, may dry spontaneously, so as to be 
the means of transmitting the disease to the most distant States. 
Virulence of the moist morbid product if secluded from the air.—A pig 
was inoculated with a portion of diseased intestine sent from Illinois in 
a closely corked bottle. The inoculating material had been THREE DAYS 
from the pig and smelt slightly putrid. The disease developed on the 
sixth day. 
A second pig was inoculated with blood from a diseased pig that had 
been kept for eleven days at 100° Fahrenheit in an isolation apparatus, 
the outlets of which were plugged with cotton wool. Ilesssupervened 
in twenty-four hours. . 
The exclusion of air, or more probably the prevention or retardation 
of putrefaction, therefore, probably favors the longer preservation of 
the poison. ‘ 
Probable non-virulence of morbid products that have undergone putrefac- 
tion.—Two pigs were inoculated in one day with the elements of an ulcer 
from a portion of intestine sent from New Jersey ina box. ‘The product 
was TWO DAYS¢from the pig and distinctly putrid. Neither seemed to 
suffer at any time. 
A third pig was placed in a pen with a portion of the same diseased 
intestine, and some manure sent with it. The intestine disappeared 
after the second day, and was probably eaten, but the pig showed no 
evil effects. 
It should be stated that each of these pigs had been formerly inocu- 
lated, and two appeared to pass through a mild form of the disease, 
while the third had showed an elevated temperature on three alternate 
days only. It may therefore be questioned whether they had not at- 
tained to a certain degree of insusceptibility which insured the negative 
results. In other cases, however, I have found a second inoculation to 
take though the first had been successful, and Dr. Osler records cases 
of the same kind. The results obtained in the three above-mentioned 
pigs would demand further investigation in this direction, as they sug- 
gest a probable explanation of any varying virulence of the disease in 
wet and dry seasons, in sheds and in the fields. 
If we can accept Dr. Kiein’s theory of the baccillar origin of the disease, 
