FORTY-FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION 169 



Mr. Alexander AlacDonald : What is the cause of the foot 

 and mouth disease, and what will cure it? 



Dr. Houck : The cause of foot and mouth disease we judge 

 is a germ of some kind. The germ has never been seen by tht» 

 luman eye or with the aid of the microscope. It must be very 

 ,mall, for we can take a porcelain filter, made of clay similar to 

 hat used in fine china, the same material as a dinner plate, with 

 ^he glaze off, pressed hard and burned, and yet we can forc( 

 ome of the lymph or blood or contents of one of these vesicles 

 hrough that porcelain filter, and we find the liquid infections 

 :hat passed through the filter. It shows that those germs must 

 3e very small to pass through a fine porcelain filter. It may be 

 :hat our microscopes are not strong enough to see them. Influ- 

 Miza germs are the smallest we know% and if the foot and mouth 

 lisease germ is one-fifth as small, we cannot see it through our 

 iiicroscope. Maybe we have not learned to stain it properly to 

 3ring it into view. 



Xow, as to the cure. As far as the symptoms that we can 

 ee are concerned, they don't particularly need any treatment, be- 

 ause most animals get well in from ten days to two weeks with- 

 out any treatment. Local treatment helps. Borax will help the 

 nouth to heal, and hot fomentations to the udder will help tc 

 prevent garget. That kind of treatment does some good. There 

 s no preventative' treatment that has proven satisfactory. I.^oef- 

 ler of Germany has been working on a serum for a number of 

 /ears. A few years ago some of his organisms got away and 

 started an epidemic that cost the German Government a million 

 narks. The Government then bought him an island in tlie ocean 

 md he is now working on a vaccine. It has not proven very si.i- 

 sfactory. It is very expensive, as it requires from 500 to i,oo( 

 :ubic centimeters to an animal and costs from $4 to $10 per dose, 

 md the immunity will not last more than about two months. It 

 las been used to some extent in valuable herds in Germany tc 

 vard off the disease. 



]Mr. MacDonald : My father had to serve seven years a1 

 lis trade, horticulture and agriculture. His grandfather was ^ 



