202 DISEASES OF SWINE 



case, this slaughter-house was located back in a hollow near the 

 banks of a small creek. This creek wound on down through the 

 farmlands for several miles, affording water-supply to a large num- 

 ber of feeders along its course. 



This slaughter-house disposed of its animal refuse by simply 

 washing it off into the creek and allowing it to carry down along 

 the course of the stream. This, by the way, is a very common 

 custom in nearly every small city throughout central Illinois and 

 Indiana. The local butchers usually do a great percentage of their 

 own slaughtering, and the slaughter-houses are usually located in 

 some Uttle wooded gully at the outskirts of the city, and the waste 

 matter is either thrown directly into the creek or is thrown into a 

 hog lot which drains into the stream. 



Early in August an outbreak of cholera occurred in a neighbor- 

 ing county, and the owners of the local slaughtering plant saw an 

 opportunity to buy some cheap hogs, so they went over into the 

 adjoining district and bought several loads of hogs which were 

 apparently healthy, but which the owners were afraid would con- 

 tract the disease, and, accordingly, were willing to dispose of below 

 the market price for quick sale. 



These animals were brought in and killed at the local plant and 

 the offal disposed of in the usual manner. As there was no local 

 meat inspection, there is no way of absolutely telling whether or 

 not these animals were affected with cholera, but the after-results 

 along the course of the stream evidently bear out the opinion that 

 at least some of them were infected with the virus of hog-cholera. 



About two weeks after these hogs were brought in several of 

 the feeders along the course of the stream began to note evidences 

 of disease in their herds, and it was only a few days until there was 

 a full-fledged outbreak of typical hog-cholera in full swing along 

 the course of the stream, which had been undoubtedly contami- 

 nated from the offal thrown into it by the butchers at the slaugh- 

 tering plant. 



This case serves to present a number of interesting problems 

 in the prevention of hog-cholera, and also, incidentally, in the 

 proper regulation of local slaughtering plants. 



In the first place, it should be made an offence punishable by 

 law to locate a slaughtering plant along the course of a public 



