154 DISEASES OF SWINE AND OTHER ANIMALS. 



of hygienic care, but ratlier to follow carefully tlie directions set forth for 

 the case of svriue, and make the medical treatment an auxiliary. 



A few words may be proper in regard to worms in alimentary canal. 

 I have found no species of worms which could be strictly included under 

 the head of contagious diseases, or could in any way be called a cause 

 of the disease to which swine are subject. I liave seldom examined a 

 hog in any stage of the disease without finding vrorms in some forai. 

 The long, round worm in the stomach, and frequently the small thread- 

 worm in the caecum, have been found. These worms are natural to the 

 swine and to all domestic animals. They may increase in numbers and 

 cause trouble, but they are not the disease or the cause of the disease, 

 but rather an effect of the condition of weakened mucous membrane 

 which has increased the parasite. Oil of turpentine, in milk or slop, 

 given once a day (preferably on an empty stomach), will expel those 

 worms when so numerous as to affect health. I have received many 

 letters from farmers and proprietors claimiug that the worms were the 

 specific cause, in fact the disease itself, and approving remedies to meet 

 their single indications. I will therefore state emphatically that, in the 

 dissections I have made, numbering over one hundred, I liave found no 

 form of worms which are not frequent in health, and have found no for- 

 eign parasites of any kind that could be detected with the naked eye 

 that could possibly be a cause of the disease of swine. A careful exam- 

 ination of the liver, lungs, spleen, and kidneys mth a powerful micro- 

 scope may disclose some minute animalcula ov parasite (as I said before, 

 I found I could make no practical use of the microscope in field) ; but 

 even these minute objects are but an effect, and the poison germ lies be- 

 hind as the cause of the depraved system which has permitted the paT- 

 asite to find a home. There is one disease known as kidney- worm, of 

 which I have heard almost every farmer speak, but I have not seen a 

 specimen of the parasites, although I have dissected a number of hogs 

 which farmers claimed were suffering with this affection. I invariably 

 found inflammation of kidneys, but no worm visible to the naked eye. 



There seems to be a general belief among farmers that rings are a 

 strong predisposing cause of disease, and, instead of meeting the oppo- 

 sition to this theory wliich I expected, I find that careful observers are 

 willing to admit the truth of the statement, and either abandon the 

 rings or furnish the food which is cut off by their use. In Jasper county, 

 which has a rolling, clay soil, and the hogs generally have extensive 

 ranges, I particularly noticed the fact that, in a ride of fifteen miles 

 through a thickly-settled country, the droves in which rings were used 

 were invariably sick, and in those in which they were not used there were 

 no sick animals. In one drove only the brood-sows were- rung, and these 

 alone were attacked at the time of my visit. Although this is but one 

 isolated county, yet it furnishes food for reflection. I do not claim tha;t 

 clover does not contain potash and soda (sodium) in a neutral foim. 

 The claim I set forth is that this food has an acid reaction in a green 

 state; that it contains an excess of vegetable acid; and that confine- 

 ment to tliis diet will induce flatulency and dyspepsia in any omnivor- 

 ous animal. It is the natural food of horses, cattle, sheep, deer, and 

 buffaloes, but not of swine ; and the anatomy of the hog proves the 

 statement. IMy claim is that no omnivorous animal can remain in health 

 on an exclusive diet of green clover. I ai^pend the following notes from 

 my daily journal: John Mmick, near Washington, Iowa, had a breed 

 of Chester Whites, mixed with Berkshire. Pens, filthy; range, timber, 

 with clay soil and grass; food, soaked oats after they had been taken 

 sick; good water. Had ninety-four head ; sixty-seven died and seven 



