BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



213 



mediate investigation. In company with the governor, the secretary 

 of the State Board of Agriculture, and a delegation of citizens from 

 Emporia, Dr. Holcombe reached Neosho Falls March 6, and after a hur- 

 ried examination of the Keith, Goodrich, and Beard herds lie reported 

 that the disease was the genuine epizootic aphtha of Europe. The fol- 

 lowing dispatch was received at the Department of Agriculture the 

 same day : 



Neosho Falls, Kaxs., March G. 



Hon. Geo. B. Loring, 



Commissioner o f Agriculture : 

 Veterinary surgeons A. A. Holcomb and A. H. Wilhite have to-day made an exami- 

 nation of the inlected cattle, and pronounce it foot-and-mouth disease. Over 100 

 head are affected, but the disease is contiued to stock cattle on a half dozen farms. 



G. W. GLICK, Governor of Kansas. 



When Dr. Truinbower reached Neosho Falls, he found an excited 

 throng of people who urged upon him the necessity of making an im- 

 mediate diagnosis, and relyingrather upon the representations of others, 

 which in many important respects proved to be incorrect, than upon 

 what he was actually able to see, and a careful judgment based upon 

 this alone, he was led to concur in the opinion of the professional gen- 

 tlemen who had been upon the ground for the preceding three or four 

 days. 



On March 10, Dr. Holcombe made his formal report to the governor, 

 in whicli occurred the following sentence: 



That it is foot-and-mouth disease cannot he doubted when the symptoms are con- 

 sidered ; for to recapitulate, the various cases show vesicles and ulcers of the mouth ; 

 vesicles and ulcers in the cleft of the hoof; suppuration and sloughiug at the foot ; ulcers 

 of the rectum; vesicles and ulcers of the udder; diarrhea; a temperature varying 

 from 101 to 104.4 degrees Fahr., and the most remarkable emaciation even in cases 

 where the appetite is good. 



The excitement now became so great that by your direction I left 

 Washington, March. 13, to investigate the nature of the disease and to 

 see what action, if any, was necessary to hold it in check. At Chicago 

 I learned of what was supposed to "be a similar outbreak at Effingham, 

 111., and was requested by Dr. Bauch, secretary of the State Board of 

 Health, and by others largely interested in the cattle industries of the 

 State, to make an immediate investigation. The condition of affairs in 

 Kansas, however, was so urgent that I concluded to press on as rapidly 

 as possible. 



1 reached Topeka March 15, and immediately had an interview with 

 the governor and with the secretary of the State Board of Agriculture. 

 1 was informed by both that the malady was undoubtedly foot-and- 

 mouth disease, but that it was so quarantined that there was little 

 danger of its immediate extension ; and at the request of the governor 

 I proceeded the following day to Pawnee County, to investigate a sup- 

 posed outbreak of pleuro-pneumonia. I found the cattle there to be suf- 

 fering from chronic indigestion, the result of feeding too exclusively for 

 a long time on dried sorghum with a probably insufficient water supply. 



I at once returned, reaching Neosho Falls March. 19, and after a care- 

 ful investigation was able to telegraph you on the 21st that the affection 

 was not foot-and-mouth disease, but that it had been produced by local 

 causes and that there was no danger of its spreading. 



Beturning through Topeka, I reported my conclusion to the governor 

 and was informed that experiments would be made with susceptible an- 

 imals to decide the nature of the disease. I was invited to assist in 

 these experiments, and at first decided to do so, but 1 soon learned that 



