EEPOET OF THE BUEEATJ OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



of the disease is as yet undiscovered, and although many remedies have been sug- 

 gested none of them have proven effectual. Perhaps the most successful yet tried 

 is a solution of common salt and sulphate of zinc. ^Wash the eyes with this solu- 

 tion twice a day for a few days and the white or milky appearance of the eye will 

 disappear and the sight again become clear, if the case has not been of too long 

 standing, in which event the film that covers the sight becomes toughened, when 

 nothing but the knife would seem sufficient to remove it. 



There is greater mortality among stock of all kinds in this county than has mani- 

 fested itself for many years past. The fatality among horses and mules has been 

 alarming. At first it was attributed to the ravages of buffalo gnats, but after these 

 pests subsided the mortality continued. Next cattle commenced dying with what 

 I term heart disease. The heart becomes greatly swollen and inflamed and filled 

 with live parasites. This inflammation continues until the circulation is stopped, 

 when the animal dies. This malady was succeeded by this affection of the sight, the 

 cause of which is the subject of this inquiry. 



DISEASE AMONG CATTLE IN MINNESOTA. 



In October, 1887, Dr. James Law, chief inspector of the Bureau 

 at Chicago, visited Minnesota for the purpose of investigating the 

 cause of a mysterious and fatal disease said to be prevailing among 

 cattle in Steele County of that State. He was unable to reach any 

 definite conclusion as to the cause of the disease, as will be seen 

 from the following report: 



1. On the bottom lands of the Cannon River branch of the Mississippi, and about 

 5 miles north of Red Wing, Minn. , Mr. Rodman has lost 8 cattle one and two-year- 

 olds ut of a herd of over 50. I found 1 yearling dead with no apparent lesion 

 beyond venous congestion around the stomachs and a black, fluid condition of the 

 blood in the larger vessels. In the heart were firm, black clots ; spleen sound. In 

 the blood I found staff-shaped bodies 2| times the breadth of a red globule, and 

 groups of refrangent spheroids, but as the bottle in which it had been carried had 

 been only rinsed out with hot water and not sterilized I dare not attach much im- 

 portance to this. Dr. Hewitt proceeded to extract any alkaloid which might be 

 present in the gastric contents, but I have not learned the result. The lesions would 

 not be altogether incompatible with a rapidly fatal bacteridian poison. 



The bottoms on which these animals pastured are in the main sandy and dry on 

 the surface, but at intervals there are depressions, indicating former water-courses, 

 soft and miry at some points and at others containing stagnant pools, with brownish 

 black water and covered by conf ervae. 



2. In Steele County I visited the herd of Mr. Fred Ahren, at Havana, and found 

 that since our visit in July he had lost 3 cows, 2 steers, and 2 calves. It was alleged 

 that the disease had spread from this herd to adjacent farms, but I found that the 

 herds of neighbors, pastured on the same swamp, had not had a case of sickness, 

 and that the nearest cases were 2 cows at 1| miles distance in a straight line, with 

 no water shed from Ahren's land towards theirs, with no possibility of contact, and 

 with a number of intervening herds in perfect health. This suggests the swamp on 

 Ahren's home farm as the true cause of the trouble. The common pasturage was 

 at some distance. 



3. I visited Mr.W. C.Leib,in the town of Pratt, Steele County, 5 miles south of 

 Owatonna and !- miles from Ahren's, whose herd was alleged to have been infected 

 by Ahren's cattle. I found that he had early in the spring bought a cow of Mr. E. 

 F. Degener, of the town of Somerset, and l milefc southwest of Leib's pasture. This 

 cow became sick in September, had yellow nasal discharge, watery eyes, an infre- 

 quent cough; blood-streaked excrement and bloody urine passed whenever the ani- 

 mal rose. She died in six or seven days. A second cow was said to have become 

 blind prior to death. The pasture, in which but 1 cow is now left, has a nearly dry 

 pond in the center, which had covered quite a wide area prior to the drought. 



4. My next objective point was Mr. E. F. Degener's, over a mile southwest of 

 Leib's place, and in the town of Somerset. He had turned out 12 yearlings and 8 

 two-year-olds, on May 4, on a common pasture owned by Mr. Holmes, at Geneva 

 Lake, 8 miles south ; 1 yearling died there June 11, and throughout the season 

 all 12 of the yearlings died, the last on July 6 or 7. All the two-year-olds escaped, 

 as did all the cattle kept at home. Hermann Wrede, one of his neighbors, turned 

 30 head out on the same pasture and lost 2, the only yearlings he had. Two other 

 neighbors, Ed.Starte and M. D. Whitman, turned 3 each on the same pasture and 

 lost none. Hermann Gretzmacher also turned on 3 and all escaped. 



