134 DISEASES OF SWINE AND OTHER ANIMALS. 



4. On receipt of sucli report the veterinarian should visit the locality 

 and nialvc a careful investigation into the nature of the disease, using 

 the clinical tlienuometer and nialimg j^ost'moytcm examinations. 



5. If the contagions fever is indicated the whole herd should be 

 slaughtered, the animals deeply buried, the place thoroughly disin- 

 fected, and ]io ujore hogs allowed there till after a succeeding winter. 



C. When the disease exists to any considerable extent in a locality, 

 those owning hogs in adjoining townships or even comities, according 

 to the extent of the outbreak, should be required to keep them in small 

 inclosures or iiens, at a distance from roads or streams of water coming 

 from infected localities. This is necessary to lessen the danger of in- 

 fection and to allow more thorough disinfection in case the disease ap- 

 pears. 



7. A certain compensation should be allowed for slaughtered ani- 

 mals — say 25 per cent, on a fair valuation for those plainly sick, 50 per 

 cent, for those which simply show a rise of temperature above 103^° F., 

 and full value for the healthy ones. 



8. In case a hog-owner fails to comply with above regulations a pen- 

 alty might be fixed, or at least such a person should receive no comi^en- 

 sation for slaughtered animals. 



These are the regulations that seem to me most necessary, but there 

 may undoubtedly be circumstances m which these may be advantageously 

 modified. Thus in case of a herd of several hundred animals, in which 

 but few are affected and the remainder show a healthy temperatvu-e, it 

 might be advisable to simply kill and bury the affected ones, to thoroughly 

 disinfect the premises and to kill others as soon as a high temperature 

 becomes apparent. Or in case all were killed the meat of the healthy 

 ones might be preserved and marketed. It is also possible that, through 

 negligence in making reports or an improper diagnosis of the disease, 

 such a large territory may become infected as to make it advisable to 

 establish a sanitary cordon, isolating the locality as much as possible; 

 and leave the disease to run its natural course. In such cases no live 

 hogs should be allowed to leave the infected section till after a succeed- 

 ing winter, nor any carcasses of hogs till after freezing weather ; people 

 li\ing within this district should be prohibited from going near swine 

 outside of it, nor should drovers or others from outside be allowed to 

 visit the infected swine. All dead animals should be promptly and 

 deeply buried, and disinfectants freely used. All hogs in such district, 

 and for twenty miles distance from it in all directions, should be kept in 

 small inclosures at a distance from roads, in order to lessen the chances 

 of extension and to allow thorough disinfection. 



If such regulations are thoroughly carried out there can be no doubt 

 that the ravages of the disease will be greatly diminished at once, and 

 in a few years many States which now suffer terribly from it will be 

 completely exempt ; while in those where it now proves most disastrous 

 there is reason to believe it would never cause serious losses. Sanitary 

 regulations similar to these are the only means that have ever been suc- 

 cessful in combating the contagions diseases of animals, and while we 

 would not bo understood as discouraging the search for specific remedies 

 we cannot disguise our opinion that it is extremel.^' irrational and absurd 

 to delay action in this disease till such specific shall have been discovered ; 

 in other words to neglect those measures which have alone succeeded and 

 cling to those wliich have always failed. 



Eespectfully submitted. 



D. E. SALMON, F. & 



SwANNANOA, N. C, Xovcmhcr 15, 1878. 



