150 EEPOET OF THE BTJEEAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTEY. 



is tliat the animals fed with, these unknown compounds are not only 

 not benefited, "but their vitality is actually reduced, and when the 

 disease appears it destroys the weakened animals much more easily. 

 The writer has made post mortem examinations of several animals in 

 the West where such preliminary treatment was going on, and the 

 peculiar changes of the internal organs, not like any known disease, 

 could only be referred to the action of such preparations. It must 

 be remembered that there are very few medicines which are not in- 

 jurious or poisonous in large doses. They should not be used except- 

 ing under special conditions, and only given as recommended by those 

 who have been trained to know the peculiar value and effect of drugs. 



The condition of the animals themselves is of great importance in 

 favoring or preventing infection. When pigs are fed with liquids 

 in which the specific bacilli only are present, those that have been 

 deprived of food for some time previous take the disease, while those 

 whose stomachs contain food that is undergoing digestion do not 

 take it readily. If, besides starving the animal, they are fed with 

 some alkaline solution by whibh the alkalinity of the stomach ^ is 

 increased, the pathogenic effect is still more pronounced. Any dis- 

 order of digestion by which the secretion of gastric juice is dimin- 

 ished or checked and the mucus is increased in quantity will increase 

 the susceptibility of the animal to infection, because the alkalinity 

 of the mucous membrane will favor rather than destroy the virus. 

 Any mode of feeding which produces constipation and overdisten- 

 sion of the large intestine is likely to favor the disease, as the virus 

 is retained for a longer time. During epizootics, therefore, besides 

 the preventive measures suggested, the animals should be carefully 

 fed upon food which tends to keep the bowels -open and the feces 

 soft, and which does not interfere with normal digestion. 



When there is a suspicion that a herd has been infected, although 

 the disease has not yet appeared, disinfection and all the rules laid 

 down below, as if the disease were actually present, should be carried 

 out with great care. 



When hog cholera has appeared in a herd or on a farm, precau- 

 tions should be taken for two reasons: (1) To prevent the virus from 

 being carried to other farms and infecting other herds; (2) to prevent 

 the loss of the entire herd, or, if this is not possible, to stamp out the 

 disease in such a way that the ground shall not infect healthy animals 

 subsequently introduced. 



The rules under the first head should be prescribed by law to pro- 

 tect property from the consequences of the carelessness or the will- 

 fulness of those who refuse to take proper precautions. They may 

 be summarized as follows: 



(a) The dead animals should be immediately disposed of either by burial or by burn- 

 ing, or if they are taken to some rendering establishment their transportation should 

 be governed by well-defined rules which will prevent the dissemination of virus on 

 roads, in wagons, cars, etc. 



(6) Streams should be carefully protected from pollution. 



(c) No animals should be removed from any infected herd or locality to another 

 free from the disease, except for slaughter, for at least six months after the last case 

 of disease has died or recovered. 



(a) The proper disposal of dead animals is a matter of great im- 

 portance, for the bodies not only contain the germs of the disease, 

 but the latter will multiply enormously during summer heat in the 

 Internal organs after life has been extinguished. Each dead body 

 must therefore be regarded as a focus of the disease unless properly 



