THE SPLENIC FEVElf. 115 



The inspections of herds grazed on and near the Santa Fc road, and inquiries among 

 drovers and herders, failed to bring to light any other cases of sickness or death; and the 

 evidence of the suffering of Texan cattle from splenic fever, so far as our observations in 

 Kansas go, rested on the very marked case examined at Smoky Hill, on the high temperature 

 manifested by animals in the undoubtedly infected herd, and on the observations as to 

 the relative weights of spleens in healthy and sick cattle, reported in the foregoing pages. 



Notwithstanding, however, the favorable report which can be made regarding the 

 general appearance of southern herds, it is proved by the experiences of past years, and 

 of this, that they disseminate disease among cattle north or west of the Gulf States. 

 The impression was left on my mind, after the first observations of the malady, that the 

 Texan steers might be found to communicate the disease only for a limited time after 

 leaving Texas. There is reason to believe that such is the case, though we found that two 

 months journey, from Texas to the Union Pacific road, had not sufficed to effect this 

 object. Experiments on this point would be desirable, though expensive, and demanding 

 much time and attention. We were told, however, that the cattle which had induced so 

 much disease at Farina, on being removed to Locla, were placed on lands which brought 

 them in contact with Illinois cattle, and no bad results ensued. Mr. Robert Clark, of 

 Indianola, who has had great experience in driving cattle through Missouri into Illinois, 

 states it. as his decided opinion, from repeated observation and inquiries among drovers, 

 that the Texan steers are most dangerous immediately after leaving Texas and hence the 

 great opposition to their importation into Missouri but that after they have traveled a 

 long distance they are far less liable to do any mischief. This point is of great importance 

 in relation to means which might be suggested for the prevention of the disease, and it is 

 worthy of note that, without doubt, cattle driven into Kansas, Missouri, or other States, 

 in the summer or autumn of one year, and grazed in such State during the winter, fail to 

 retain any deleterious principle, and can readily be intermixed with, any stock during the 

 winter and spring. Texan herds, therefore, do purify themselves; and the point of greatest 

 importance in relation to the traffic in such stock is to establish, without doubt, what 

 length of time is required for such purification, and if means can be adopted to accelerate 

 so desirable a result. 



NON-TRANSMISSION OF THE DISEASE BY NORTHERN OR ]5Y WESTERN STOCK. 



During the three months last summer many well-marked cases have been seen of 

 communication of splenic fever to Illinois and to Indiana cattle. At first these animals 

 were allowed to die; but, as soon as large herds of grazing stock were attacked, an effort 

 was made to save, what could be saved by shipping and sending to eastern markets. 

 Cattle trucks have thus been filled in large numbers with infected steers, which died 

 or were slaughtered and committed to the rendering tanks. But not a single case has 

 transpired to show that these animals have induced, directly or indirectly, any disease 

 in the stock of Eastern States. How different from this is the working of a contagious 

 disease ! Had any malady of the nature of rinderpest or lung plague been favored in its 

 transmission as this one has been, the farmers of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York 

 would have bitter experiences to record, similar to those of the much-injured Illinois 

 farmers. That which is obvious in relation to the progress of the disease through the 

 country is also apparent in any district invaded by the disease. None but southern cattle 



