STATE HYGIENE 629 



umbilicus, the dressing being applied by means of a 

 syringe. 



If the dam is impoverished, liberal feeding in order to 

 bring the milk up to standard is a necessary precaution, 

 so as to reduce the susceptibihty of the young animal to 

 infection. 



Lambing folds should be frequently moved if cases con- 

 tinue to occur, while with mares or cows if the building 

 cannot be disinfected properly, owing to structural defects, 

 foaling and calving should be allowed to take place in the 

 open. 



EPIZOOTIC OSTEO-POROSIS. 



This disease has been described from several parts of the 

 world, America, South Africa, etc., but nowhere does it 

 appear to exist as an epizootic excepting at Hawaii in the 

 Sandwich Group of Islands, and here the disease has been 

 described by Elliot.* 



This observer is convinced that the disease is not of 

 dietetic origin, nor due to the absence of lime-salts in the 

 food ; this is supported by the fact that the food consists of 

 American hay, oats, bran, and barley. Elliot considers it is 

 purely a climatic affection, and points out that the Island 

 of Hawaii is divided into certain districts in which the rain- 

 fall and climate vary considerably. In the district which 

 produces cases of osteo-porosis the rainfall is 150 inches 

 annually ; the other is dry and rarely favoured with rain, 

 so that a mile or two on either side of the dividing line 

 ' takes the traveller from fields sodden with moisture and 

 covered with verdure, to a land which is arid and parched.' 



The removal of animals from the wet to the dry district 

 is followed by immediate improvement and recovery ; in 

 fact, the latter only occurs under these circumstances. 



Heat, cold, and alternations of temperature have no effect 

 in producing the disease. In the affected district the horses 



* In a most interesting and closely reasoned paper on ' Osteo- 

 porosis,' by Mr. H. B. Elliot, M.E.C.V.S., Journal of Comparative 

 Pathology, vol. xii., part iv., 1899. 



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