TREATMENT OF CHOLERA 211 



as a matter of fact, the death was really due to acute poisoning. 

 In other cases the animal recovers from the effects of the poisons, 

 but the intestines are left in such an inflamed state that they are 

 readily invaded by the hog-cholera virus, and a few weeks later the 

 animals again become sick and die rapidly, this time from a true 

 hog-cholera infection. 



During my investigations of hog-cholera in the Dominion of 

 Canada a few years ago I saw a number of cases of excellent ex- 

 amples of infection produced in this manner. 



One farmer, living about four miles from town, had a herd of 

 nearly 100 fine animals, which had been thriving most satisfactorily 

 all through the spring and early summer. None of them had been 

 sick, and every animal in the herd was doing fine. About July 1st 

 he began feeding the animals with swill collected from hotels and 

 restaurants in the city. For a few days the herd continued to do 

 fine, and, in fact, seemed to be thriving even better than before. 

 About the end of the second week after commencement of feed- 

 ing of swill several of them began to get off feed and develop a 

 diarrhea. This was at first merely of a profuse watery character, 

 but within a few hours became of a bloody nature. Several of the 

 sick vomited and developed a high temperature. Death took 

 place in quite a number, and postmortem examination showed a 

 most severe inflammation of the stomach and both large and small 

 bowels. There were, however, no ulcers, no dark red spots in the 

 kidneys, no reddened spots in the lungs, or other evidences of 

 cholera. The animals had died simply from an acute gastro-en- 

 teritis, produced by feeding of poisonous substances in the food 

 collected from these hotels and restaurants. 



On recommendation of the local district veterinarian the feed- 

 ing of swill was discontinued, and the animals were soon back in 

 normal condition. 



Another farmer in the same locality had a large herd of hogs 

 which had been running for a considerable time on a grass range, 

 with the additional feeding of some corn and middlings. About 

 three weeks before I saw the herd he began feeding the animals 

 with refuse from a number of city homes, including one hotel and a 

 number of restaurants. In the swill and refuse so collected was a 

 considerable amount of bacon and ham trimmings and other pork 



