82 DISEASE AMONG SWINE AND OTHER DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



Mr. II. S. DoDD, Dodsville, Marion County, xVikausas, says: 



During a residence of six years in this county I have not known anything like an 

 C]>idemic among farm-animals or fowls in my neighborhood. In the county of Boone, 

 adjoining this on the west, some cattle have recently died of what is called dry mur- 

 rain, and many hogs have died of cholera. I examined one cow, and found the same 

 symptoms present as observed in cases of Spanish or Texas fever in cases which I had 

 examined seven years ago in the State of Kansas. 1 lind on inquiry that Texas or 

 southern cattle have been driven through Boone County the ))ast summer, and there- 

 fore believe the disease to be the same. The first symptom noticeable is a sluggish 

 movement. In the secoud the ears and head droop, the eyes sink in the head, and the 

 toes of the hind feet drag on the ground. The duration of the disease is from two to 

 six days. On examination the urinary organs present a very large and inflamed con- 

 dition. Tiie stomacb is discolored to a black or dark red, and the contents are very 

 dry and hard. Some remedies have been administered, such as diuretics and very- 

 active cathartics, with considerable success. My opinion is that such treatment is 

 wise, and will iu almost every case effect a cure where the treatment is persevered in 

 and not delayed too long in the beginning. The diuretic used was nitrate of potash, 

 and spirits of terebiuthina the cathartic. Hog's lai'd was also used in largo aud fre- 

 quent quantities. Congress would do a wise thing by making an ai)propriation for the 

 investigation of these dreaded diseases. 



Mr. H. F. ScHENCK, Cleavelaud Mills, Cleveland County, North Car- 

 olina, says : 



The only fatal disease we have to contend with, and which seems unmanageable, is 

 what every one here calls cholera among hogs and chickens. It appears almost every 

 summer or fall among the hogs in this county, and goes through one neighborhood one 

 season and some other one the next. It does not seem to spread widely over the same 

 country any one year, but seldom fails to appear each year. The animal when attacked 

 first shows symptoms of drooping, aud although they eat at first they often vomit after 

 eating. They generally die within from seven to fourteen days. I would roughly 

 estimate the fatality at 33 per cent, of those attacked. Of those that survive it is 

 often two months before they finally recover. Many remedies have been tried, but 

 with but little success. It has never but once attacked my stock, and therefore my 

 experience with the disease is limited. Last year I had but seven hogs, aud six out 

 of the number were attacked. I observed it closely for a few days, and came to the 

 conclusion that instead of its being cholera, as it was called by my neighljors, it was 

 nothing more than simple constipation. They had no action of the bowels that I 

 could discover. I gave them large doses of calomel, put them in a lot until it operated 

 freely, and then turned them out. They all recovered. I advised my neighbors, 

 whose hogs were similarly affected, to try calomel, which they did, and since that time 

 there has scarcely been a death. 



All that I have said about hogs is applicable to fowls. 



Mr. J. F. Sellers, Perryville, Perry County, Arkansas, says : 



Cattle a few years ago were subject to murrain, but now this disease is almost un- 

 known. Horses have no diseases, except now aud then a case of blind staggers, which 

 farmers say generally arise from feeding inferior corn, and such diseases as fistula, 

 «fec., which are too common and the treatment too well known to require notice here. 



We have at this time a disease r.aging among hogs which is thought by some to be 

 the common hog cholera, but by others this is denied. The attack is made known by 

 the general drooping appearance of the animal and a laxity of the bowels, though 

 this hist symptom is not seen in all. They generally die at the end of a few hours, 

 greatly emaciated. They sometimes very suddenly swell under the throat after death, 

 and these are thought to have been in some manner choked or suffocated. It has been 

 noticed that those hogs that stay around houses and sleep in dry beds are much more 

 liable to this disease than those that run in the woods and sleep without shelter. 



Mr. James H. Eumbough, Warm Springs, Madison County, North 

 Carolina, says : 



Among some farmers of this section cholera sometimes prevails to the extent of de- 

 stroying all the hogs on the farm. I have, however, never had a case, using as a pre- 

 ventive a weak solution of concentrated lye. I cannot learn of any intelligent remedy 

 that is employed in this immediate section, and, having had no experience myself with 

 sick hogs I am unable to suggest a remedy, or present any peculiarities of the disease, 

 as I am not at all acquainted with the symptoms of hog cholera. But I am of the 

 opinion that the disease iu this climate is solely attributable to want of proper care 



