438 
SWINE FEVER. 
On February 7, 1893, a Departmental Committee of the Board of 
Agriculture was appointed to inquire into the working of the pro- 
visions of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Acts in so far as they 
relate to Swine Fever, and — having regard to the nature of that 
disease, and to the conditions under which swine are infected there- 
with — to consider whether any more effective measures can be 
adopted for its prevention and extirpation. The Committee con- 
sisted of Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice (Chairman), Sir William S. B. 
Kaye, C.B., Q.C., Sir Jacob Wilson, Professor G. T. Brown, C.B., 
Mr. R. G. Wardlaw Ramsay, Mr. Alexander Shaw, Mr. Joseph 
Smith, junior, Mr. T. Carrington Smith, and Mr. Clement 
Stephenson. The following are the salient points in the Report, 
which is dated March 27, 1893. 1 
History of Swine Fever . — In this country swine fever does not 
appear to have been recognised as a special disease until 1862, when 
Professor Simonds investigated a virulent outbreak in Berkshire. 
A fatal disease of the pig, however, was known to the Bristol 
dealers under the name of red disease , soldier, or purples, for some 
time before that date, and there is no doubt it had a prior existence 
on the American and European continents. 
Up to 1878 swine fever was allowed to spread unchecked by any 
regulations. After the passing of the Act of 1878, several Local 
Authorities urged upon the Privy Council the importance of includ- 
ing swine fever in the definition of disease under the provisions of 
that Act. 
An Order was accordingly passed, entitled the Typhoid Fever of 
Swine Order, dated December, 1878, providing for the slaughter of 
diseased swine by the Local Authority, who had also discretionary 
power to slaughter swine that had been in contact with diseased 
animals. The Order further provided that no swine should be 
moved out of the pigsty, or other place where disease existed or had 
existed within six days, without a licence, and then only for 
slaughter. 
In 1879 the returns showed that 53 counties had been infected, 
2,765 outbreaks occurred, and 17,074 swine had been attacked. 
From 1878 to 1892 various measures for the suppression of 
swine fever were adopted by Local Authorities under the Orders of 
the Privy Council and the Board of Agriculture. 2 These measures 
included the slaughter of diseased swine, and of those that had been 
1 Beport of the Departmental Committee appointed by the Board of Agri- 
culture to inquire into Swine Fever : with Minutes of Evidence, Index, and 
Appendices. Part I. Report. [C. 6999.] Price 1 d. Pp. 8. Part II. Minutes 
of Evidence, Appendices, and Index. [C. 6999 — I.] Price 2s. 3d. Pp. iv. + 272. 
London : Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1893. 
H;, 2 The Agricultural Department of the Privy Council was in 1889 transferred 
to the Board of Agriculture, 
