494 REPORT OF THE BUKEAU OP ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



effects of the drain on the system, and have all been condemned as unfit for human 

 food, and the carcasses sent out to the fertilizing establishment. While in attend- 

 ance at the A. P. H. A., at Memphis, last week, Dr. , of Chicago, informed me 



that the flesh of such animals was not a dangerous article of food, as the disease is 

 caused by a coarse grass which has worked its way into the flesh, and as soon as it 

 is opened and the foreign body removed the recovery is rapid. He said further 

 that on a ranch in which he is interested they kill such animals for their own use 

 rather than one that has a better market value. Can you give me information as 

 to the nature and name of the disease and your opinion as to whether I was justi- 

 fied in my order to condemn the material for food ? Has your Department pub- 

 lished anything on this subject, and if not what work can I secure that will give me 

 a general knowledge of the same ? 



Dr. Salmon, Chief of the Bureau, replied to this letter as follows: 



I would say that, from the lesions you give, the cattle were probably affected 

 with the disease known as Actinomycosis. Formerly this affection of the jaw 

 was described under the name of Osteosarcoma, Spina ventosa, Fibro-plastic de- 

 generation of the bone, and similar titles, it being regarded as due to a tubercular 

 or cancerous diathesis of the system, or to local injury. (See Williams' Prin, and 

 Prac. Vet. Surg. , Edin. , 1870, p. 199; also J. W. Hill, Bovine Med. and Surg. , London, 

 1882, p. 138; Clater's Cattle Doctor, p, 62; Steel's Diseases of the Ox, p, 423.) 



Actinomycosis is regarded as an infectious disease, caused by the microscopic 

 fungus Actinomyces, and is most frequently seen in bovine animals, though it 

 occurs in other domestic animals and in man. But very little has been written 

 upon the subject in English. The only articles I can refer you to are Vet. Jour. , 

 London, Vol. XVI, p. l,by Fleming; also a small work by Fleming entitled "Acti- 

 nomycosis," published in 1883 (for sale by W. K. Jenkins, New York), and an arti- 

 cle by Professor Axe in the Veterinarian, London, Vol. LV, p. 811. This Department 

 has published no report on the subject. 



It is well to examine the tongue and the viscera of the animal for the yellowish 

 nodules of the diseased tissue (which are supposed to contain the germ of the dis- 

 ease), and to prevent such parts at least from being used for food. The Chicago 

 health authorities, I understood, were condemning the carcasses of all animals af- 

 fected with this disease a year or two ago, but I am unable to say whether or not 

 they still continue to do so. Where the local tumors are of considerable size and 

 suppurating I believe it sound policy to prohibit the sale of the flesh for food, 



PARASITIC BRONCHITIS AMONG CALVES. 



/ An outbreak of parasitic bronchitis occurred among a herd of 

 calves belonging to Dr. E. A. Hering, Cross Keys, Rockingham 

 County, Va., in October, 1887. In. a communication to the Depart- 

 ment, dated on the 16th of that month, he says: 



I have a herd of calves, from four to six months old, suffering severely with 

 parasitic bronchitis, a disease sometimes called ''husk," "hoose,"etc. The herd 

 contains thirty-odd calves. These calves were exposed to the long spell of wet 

 weather which prevailed here during nearly all the month of September. They were 

 grazed on meaclow land, which, of course, was quite wet; but the grazing was good 

 and plentiful. They were also fed once a day a moderate ration of wheat bran 

 mixed with cotton-seed meal. I noticed a few weeks ago that they were not look- 

 ing well, and ordered an increase of meal. About two weeks "ago a calf was 

 reported sick. The great prostration, and loud and difficult breathing rendered it 

 necessary to haul it to the stable. I found it dead next morning, No post-mortem 

 was made. It was then observed that other animals commenced coughing, and 

 rapidly the outbreak became general. I supposed they had taken bad colds from 

 the previous wet weather, which had been followed by cold nights and heavy 

 frosts. Their condition became so serious that I had Dr. John A. Myers, a young 

 veterinary surgeon of Harrisonburgh, see them. He gave it as his opinion that the 

 calves were suffering with parasitic bronchitis. A calf dying on Friday night we 

 made a post-mortem examination and found the doctor's diagnosis perfectly cor- 

 rect. 



These miserable parasites, called, I believe, Strongylus micrurus, were to be found 

 by the thousands from the larynx all through the trachea and down the bronchial 

 tubes to the small ramifications of the same. Perhaps the greater number were 

 found at the bifurcation of the trachea, These worms were from 2 to 3 Inches 

 long some longer and aa thick as a large sewing-thread. They are white. 



