116 DISEASES OF SWINE AND OTHER ANIMALS. 



tion of intestine from same animal shows a liealtliy condition. These 

 three sections are transmitted Tvith this report for verification. (See 

 microscopic sections, Plate XV, Tigs. 1, 2, and 3.) 



The contents of the stomach and intestines ■were liqnid in six cases, 

 and dry, hard, and very dark colored in all others. 



The gall-bladder usually contained a small quantity of thin, greenish 

 flTiid. 



The trachea and bronchial tubes contained a large quantity of matter 

 apparently consisting of mucus and broken-down epithelium. 



DIAGNOSIS OF THE DISEASE. 



Judging from the visible causes that appear most active in its develop- 

 ment — the symptoms and pathology of the disease — we feel waiTanted 

 in pronouncing it, in its milder manifestations, hroncJdal catarrh, and, in 

 its most active and fatal form, catarrhal pneumonia. 



There is no symptom uniformly present in the disease, as we have 

 observed it, that bears any analogy to the symptoms of cholera as aifect- 

 ing the human subject, and the term "hog-cholera" is therefore a mis- 

 nomer 5 and although there is, ordinarily, little or nothing in a name, 

 in this instance the misnaming of the disease has been a source of iucal- 

 culable loss, by suggesting a line of treatment irrationally administered 

 and calculated to aggravate rather than cure it. 



ITS CAUSE. 



It is when seeking the cause of this wide-spread epidemic disease that 

 the field of investigation takes widest range. As already stated, it pre- 

 vails more or less at all seasons of the year, and under almost every con- 

 ceivable condition and combination of conditions as to soil, food, water, 

 locality, and general management; but the difference in its prevalence 

 under certain circumstances is so marked and uniform that fi'om these 

 facts we may derive some definite information as to the causes most active 

 in development. 



The past history of the disease would indi(}ate that it originated in this 

 country at a time when the condition of swine was visibly altered fi'om 

 a comijarative state of uatui'C to one of more x>erfect domestication. 

 When the country was new, alfording almost unlimited range, the hogs 

 bred, grew up, and roamed in the forest until maturity. Being allowed 

 the iree use of their noses, and being omnivorous in nature, they fed on 

 worms, roots, mast, and such other food as was x)rovided and given them 

 by their owners ; they exercised as their inclination or necessities in- 

 clined them; had free access to niunerous springs and streams of run- 

 ning water; slept in storm-sheltered thickets on beds of clean leaves, 

 and enjoyed under these chcumstances a vigor of constitution and an 

 immunity from disease unknown to the modern swine-breeders of the 

 country. As the country became more densely i)opulated, i-endering it 

 necessary to clear up and inclose the land for agricultural piu-poses, the 

 lank, active, long-nosed animal of the pioneer age began to disappear 

 in order to give j)lace to a new and more advanced civilization in the 

 history of his race. A close business calculation demonstrated that a- 

 hog fed to profit on food produced by manual labor must have an inbred 

 tendency to take on fiesli, and that tendency encouraged by close con- 

 finement and higli feeding. 



The hog of to-day is tin; result of persistent in-breeding for an obese 

 habit, encoui-aged by want of exercise and over-feeding. An annual 



