86 



FISH AND GAME COMMISSION 



sities. Often a man has hecn employod on a part-time basis while 

 Avorking- for a higher degree. Thus without cost have been furnished 

 laboratory equipment and expert direction. The tangible results are 

 evidenced by a series of technical bulletins and by practical accomplish- 

 ments. 



When research work was taken over November 20, 1928, the coop- 

 erative plan was continued whereby Dr. K. P. Meyer of the Hooper 



Fig. 29. Banding sick duclis prior to placing them in recovery pen for observa- 

 tion. Hollywood Gun Club, Kern County, California, October, 1928. Photo- 

 graph by B. S. Cheney 



Foundation for Medical Research directs investigations relating to the 

 disease of game and fish, and furnishes laboratory facilities. 



Paul A. Shaw, with an assistant, has been endeavoring to find out the 

 cause of duck disease. He has made numerous trips into the field, 

 including Klamath Lake, Hollywood Gun Club, Kern County, Salton 

 Sea, and Bear River marshes, Utah, gathering evidence. By means of 

 numerous experiments on live birds he has been able to discount theo- 

 ries based on the idea that the disease is a contagious one caused by 

 bacteria. Mud and water gathered at places where the disease occurs 

 regularly and from places where the disease is not known, when 

 analyzed gave information as to salts that might be concerned. The 

 toxic effect of numerous chemicals has been tried out and it is believed 

 that eventually it will be possible to produce the disease artificially in 

 the laboratory. Three chemical papers giving the result of these 

 studies have been published in the Proceedings of the Society for 

 Experimental Biology and Medicine, under the general heading of 

 ' ' Duck Disease Studies : " 1. Blood Analyses in Diseased Birds ; 2. 

 Feeding of Single and Mixed Salts ; 3. Salt Content of Soils in Disease 

 and Nondisease Areas. 



