1920.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 31. 43a 



DEPARTMENT OF VETERINARY SCIENCE. 



PAIGE, D.V.S. 



During the past year the hues of experimental work in the 

 department have been carried along in accordance with plans 

 of previous years, in so far as was possible. In view of the 

 fact that a part of the staff was absent during a portion of the 

 time in military service, both the investigation and control 

 lines of work suffered considerably. 



Dr. J. B. Lentz, in charge of the poultry disease elimination 

 problem, was away from July, 1917, to August, 1919. Upon 

 his discharge from the service he decided not to return to the 

 department, but to engage in veterinary practice in his home 

 town in Pennsylvania. To fill the vacancy made by the retire- 

 ment of Dr. Lentz, Thomas G. Hull, Ph.D., of Yale University 

 was engaged to take charge of the poultry disease elimination 

 work. Dr. Hull reported for service Sept. 16, 1919. 



Dr. G. E. Gage, associate professor of pathology, withdrew 

 from the department in February, 1918, for military service. 

 He returned to resume his work at the opening of the college 

 year in September, 1919. 



Poultry Disease Elimination. 

 For three years prior to February, 1918, the agglutination 

 test of the blood had been made for the diagnosis and elimina- 

 tion of bacillary white diarrhea of fowls and chicks. During 

 that period about 35,000 birds were tested, with the most 

 favorable results. Flocks, in which the mortality of young 

 chicks hatched from eggs of hens infected with bacillary white 

 diarrhea ranged as high as 75 per cent, were freed of the 

 disease to the extent that not the loss of a chick occurred from 

 the disease after the test had been applied and the infected 

 birds removed from the breeding flock. 



