DISEASE AMONG SWIXE AND OTHER DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 135 



with sulpliur. The disease was first observetl September 1, its greatest fatality occurred 

 October 10, and the hist death on December 20. Of the 90 head attacked, t'vo 

 were shot, three recovered, and all the rest died. The skin on those that recovered 

 nearly all peeled oft". They were in good condition np to the time of attack, having 

 run in blue-grass and clov(>r pasture during July, August, and September. Those that 

 were afflicted were carefully cared for. The remedies used were arsenic, calomel, char- 

 coal, sulphur, copperas, fresh meat, and carbolic acid, but without any beneficial effect. 

 The age of these hogs ranged from four weeks to five years. 



The disease is regarded as contagious, for the following reason : About the time of 

 the commencement of tlie disease, but before ho Avas aware of its existence, Mr. IIol- 

 loway sold a sow and five pigs to a Mr. Graham. They were taken to a distant neigh- 

 borhood and put into a pen with another pig. Soon after they were taken sick and 

 died, as also did the pig which was confined with them. In an adjoining pen were six 

 fattening hogs. One of these was taken sick, and in order to prevent the further 

 spread of the disease Mr. Graham killed the balance. 



There has been a very fatal disease prevailing among the chickens in this neighbor- 

 hood, which is variously called the roup, the hen fever, and the hen cholera. Fowls 

 attacked with it appear stupid at first; their combs turn purple, and they gape fre- 

 quently. They have been known to die within four hours after the first symptoms 

 were observed, and seldom live more than a day or two. Guinea-fowls seem to suffer 

 from the same disease. The most successful remedy used was a strong decoction of 

 white-oak bark, made by boiling in water and mixing with cornmeal, adding about 

 two-thirds of a teaspoonful of cayenne pepper to the quart of feed. They also placed 

 the ooze in vessels where the fowls had easy access to it. This seemed to check the 

 disease at once. 



Mr. C. Lewis, Xew Yieuua, HigLlaud Couuty, Ohio, says : 



The hog is by nature a very healthy animal, and should be the same in his artificial 

 or domestic state. Therefore, in investigating his present condition, reference should 

 be had to his original habits and surroundings ; and the nearer we can approach this 

 in his domestic condition the better. We find that in his natural state his home is in 

 the forest, where he can roam at will and indulge his appetite in partaking of its pro- 

 ductions in the form of roots, grasses, herbs, fruits, berries, nuts, &c., in their proper 

 season and natural purity ; making his bed in leaves by the side of logs or other tem- 

 porary shelter, changing the same at pleasure, and reconstructing his bed out of new 

 material, and all the time using his " snoutish" proclivities to the full bent of his in- 

 stinct. Thus we find him a healthy, and in his maturity a powerful animal. Now, the 

 nearer we can conform to these first principles or habits of the animal the better, for 

 the preservation of health and jirevention of disease is far better than all the remedies 

 known or unknown. In his natural condition we find him comparatively free from 

 all filth, dust, and foul air, making his bed out of leaves or grass on the ground, sleep- 

 ing few in a bed, and drinking pure water. And now, as to his domestic condition, 

 I will not say habits, for he is no longer free to exercise these ; and right here is the first 

 line of demarkation between health and disease, and must be so considered if we wish 

 to arrive at the truth of the matter. The cause of the disease seems to be more easy 

 to point out than to remove. In the first place, there are, as a general thing, too many 

 hogs kept together in the same inclosure, which gives them an opportunity to " pile 

 up" in their beds when the weather is cold and stormy, becoming not only over- 

 crowded but over-heated; thus laying the foundation for disease by disturbing their 

 normal condition. By this confinement they are also compelled to a greater or less ex- 

 tent to be ever present with their waste matter, which at certain seasons is more det- 

 rimental than at others; hence at such times they are mora liable to attack by the so- 

 called epidemic diseases. 



Another cause of derangement and disease is dust, which is generally most abundant 

 at the season when the waste matter is most offensive and detrimental, thus producing 

 a double aggravation of the eause of disease. Another productive cause is the habit 

 of keeping the same stock of hogs on the farm for a number of years, even when there 

 is an annual change of male hogs. If a change of pasture will make fat calves, an 

 entire change of stock will certainly produce better and more healthy hogs, other things 

 being equal. 



Now as to the diseases to which the hog is subject: Though naturally healthy they 

 can secrete a mountain of disease, and it does seem that a diseased hog is the worst 

 diseased animal on the face of the earth. There appears to be an epidemic disease of 

 the lungs, commencing with a cough and followed by loss of appetite, general debility, 

 and finally running into something similar to lung- fever, which is generally fatal. The 

 principal producing and exciting causes of this disease appear to be dust, too many 

 occupying the same bed, foul air and exposure to cold, wet storms. (The disease seems 

 more common among pigs and shoats.) There is also a disease of the bowels, which 

 might be termed cholera or diiirrhea, and seems to prevail more extensively among hogs 



