SCIENCE. 



205 



SCIENCE: 



A Weekly Record of Scientific 

 Progress. 



JOHN MICHELS, Editor. 



Published at 

 TRIBUNE BUILDING, NEW YORK. 



P. O. Box 3838. 



SATURDAY, MAY 7, 1881. 



Dr. H. J. Detmers, of Chicago, has forwarded to us 

 a communication of considerable importance, which 

 will doubtless be read with interest both on this con- 

 tinent and in Europe. 



In 1877 the Commissioner of Agriculture reported 

 that during the previous year, the loss due to farm 

 animals dying from infectious and contagious diseases 

 amounted to $16,653,428, of which amount two- 

 thirds, or over $1 1,000,000, were due to loss of swine. 

 But as this report included returns from only half of 

 the United States, the above sum was, of course, far 

 below the actual losses of the year. 



Congress having appropriated $10,000 for defray- 

 ing the expenses of a commission to investigate the 

 causes which produced these contagious and destruc- 

 tive diseases, and, if possible, to discover remedies, 

 the matter was placed in various hands to conduct the 

 inquiry. 



Among those who have received instructions from 

 the Department of Agriculture, Dr. H. J. Detmers 

 has shown considerable skill in attacking the problem, 

 and the results of his work have developed several dis- 

 coveries of great biological significance. 



Although working with inferior microscopical appli- 

 ances, he soon found that a particular kind of Bac- 

 terium was always present in cases of swine plague, 

 and he has been able, apparently, to prove by actual 

 experiment that these Bacteria were the active prin- 

 ciple of contagion. 



The early investigations of Dr. Detmers were given 

 in the Report of the Agricultural Department for 

 1878. Since this time Dr. Detmers has, with consid- 

 erable industry, continued his investigations under 

 more favorable circumstances ; for armed with new 

 objectives made by Mr. Tolles, of Boston, with 

 powers of definition equal to anything yet manufac- 

 tured to aid human vision, a new revelation has 

 resulted from their use. 



The latest discoveries of Dr. Detmers we are able 

 to place before our readers in another column of this 

 issue. Possibly the conclusions drawn in this paper 

 may be criticised, and our columns will be open to 

 any exceptions taken on scientific grounds, but our 

 readers must unite in giving credit to Dr. Detmers 

 for the very thorough and exhaustive treatment which 

 this subject has received at his hands. 



The researches of Pasteur in a somewhat similar 

 direction, which have been reported in this journal, 

 suggest to us that Dr. Detmers should, like Pasteur, 

 endeavor to arrest the spread of Hog Cholera by a 

 system of vaccination. Dr. Detmers shows in his 

 present paper that by cultivating the Bacterian infect- 

 ing element, a contagious principle is secured which 

 by inoculation produces a very mild form of the dis- 

 ease. Could not advantage be taken of this fact in 

 the direction we have indicated ? 



We are glad to announce that Hog Cholera is rapidly 

 becoming a thing of the past, and has decreased since 

 1878 so rapidly that at the present time it is difficult 

 to obtain badly infected specimens for scientific ex- 

 perimental purposes. This fact, which is communi- 

 cated to us by Dr. Detmers in a private letter, will be 

 welcome news to those interested in this extensive in- 

 dustry and to the public generally. In Dr. Detmer's 

 report, which we publish this day, it should be noticed 

 that he states that in 1878 the malignant or fatal form 

 (with ulcerous tumors) was found in about 75 per cent. 

 of all fatal cases (in Illinois), whereas now their occur- 

 rence is probably limited to about 5 per cent, of all 

 cases. 



Thus the Swine-plague is now under control and 

 is rapidly disappearing. These results are clearly due 

 to the wise policy of publicly making known the evil 

 and the danger, and promptly taking precautionary 

 measures. Let the credit then be given where it is 

 due, even if extended to that much abused Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture at Washington, which first raised a 

 voice of warning and secured funds from Congress to 

 " investigate and determine the causes, and if possible 

 to discover remedies" of one of the most destructive 

 diseases that ever assailed domestic animals. 



Of the Trichina? trouble we have but a few words to 

 offer, as it can be more profitably described without 

 reference to other subjects. We may, however, ob- 

 serve that it is one of the least formidable of diseases 

 found in hogs, and can probably be eradicated, if 

 proper measures are taken. It is useless to assert that 

 it does not exist, and the only common sense view of 

 the case to be taken, is to acknowledge the evil and 

 root it out. Action should be taken by Boards of 

 Trade to at once gather statistics by proper examina- 

 tions. If, as they assert, there are no Trichina; in Ameri- 



