PREFACE 



My object in preparing this book has been to place 

 in the hands of those who handle hog cholera definite 

 and authoritative information regarding the disease. 

 There are abundant publications dealing with hog 

 cholera but for the most part they consist of technical 

 papers covering certain restricted phases of the disease, 

 or of attempts to circumscribe the entire subject in the 

 scope of a few pages. Neither meets the needs of the 

 man who must handle hog cholera in the field. More- 

 over these publications appear as bulletins or as special 

 papers in technical journals, and usually they are not 

 at the veterinarian's command at the time he needs 

 them. 



We are rapidly discarding the old belief that any one 

 who can use a hypodermic syringe can cope with hog 

 cholera. Questions constantly arise regarding diagnosis, 

 complications, when or whether to immunize, which 

 method to use, the subsequent care of the herd, the 

 handling of young pigs, slaughtering from infected 

 herds under inspection, and many other individual prob- 

 lems. 



The effective handling of hog cholera, like the handling 

 of other diseases, is founded on exact knowledge of tlie 

 malady itself, but hog cholera differs from other in- 

 fectious diseases in that preventive vaccination against 

 it has served to open the new field of swine practice. 



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