892 The American Naturalist. [October, 
haps still greater exactness by both Professors Schiitz and 
Loeffler? 
I am perfectly well aware that lesions similar to those found 
in the large intestine have also been found in hogs in Germany, 
but think they require an entirely different interpretation. These 
intestinal lesions were first described by Roloff in 1875, under 
the name of " Chronic Caseous Enteritis in Swine ; " and it is a 
very singular fact that from that time until now not one single 
case of such lesions in swine has been described by German ob- 
servers. Professor Schiitz was inclined to the opinion that these so- 
called " characteristic lesions " in the large intestine, so common 
n, but not necessary, to the true American swine plague, might 
also be found to belong in the pathological picture of the Ger- 
man Schweine-seuche, and in my earlier writings in several 
periodicals I inclined to the same opinion, being misled by the 
more or less close resemblance in the description of the germs of 
the German disease to the morphological appearances of those 
of the American. I, however, entirely changed my opinion as 
to identity between the German Schweine-seuche and the true 
swine plague of this country, called by the Government " Hog 
Cholera," in my full report published in the spring of 1889. 
Notwithstanding this latest and only real authentic publication of 
my ideas on this subject, a late writer, Prof Welsh, of the Johns 
Hopkins University, says, in a " Bulletin " of that institution, 
December, 1889: "Much confusion has resulted from Dr. Bil- 
lings' attempts to identify this organism (of ♦ Hog Cholera ') with 
that of the Schweine-seuche." 
I pronounce that assertion to be unequivocally false. The 
" confusion " has been raised entirely by careless, unquali- 
fied or ignorant writers who have endeavored to prove that the 
government swine plague is identical with the " Schweine-seuche." 
To show how prejudiced and biased this committee may 
be, and how weak a man can be, though honored with a 
responsible position in a respectable university, and how econ- 
omical of the truth such a person may be, I quote a few 
lines from my report on swine plague, where I am endeavor- 
ing to show that the German Schweine-sueche cannot be 
