Annual  Report  for  1909  of  Royal  Veterinary  College.  331 
Swine  Fever. 
Ill  order  to  show  the  present  position  with  regard  to  swine 
fever  it  is  necessary  to  set  out  the  figures  relating  to  the 
incidence  of  the  disease  since  1893  : — 
Tear 
Outbreaks 
Pigs  slaughtered 
Tear 
Outbreaks 
Pigs  slaughtered 
1894 
5,682 
56,296 
L 1902 
1,688 
8,263 
1895 
6,305 
69,931 
1903 
1,478 
7,933  ' 
1896 
5,166 
79,586 
1904 
1,196 
5,603 
1897 
2,155 
40,432 
1905 
817 
3,876 
1898 
2,514 
43,756 
1906 
1,280 
7,359 
1899 
2,322 
30,797 
1907 
2,336 
11,275 
1900 
1,940 
17,933 
1908 
2,067 
14,096 
1901 
3,140 
15,237 
1909 
1,651 
14,316 
Between  1879,  when  swine  fever  was  first  scheduled  as  a 
contagious  disease,  and  1893,  the  disease  was  dealt  with  by  the 
local  authorities,  and  during  that  period  the  highest  number 
of  outbreaks  reported  in  any  year  was  7,238  (in  1879),  and  the 
lowest  was  2,748  (in  1892).  The  largest  number  of  pigs 
attacked  in  any  of  these  years  was  41,973  (in  1879),  and  the 
lowest  was  13,957  (in  1892). 
The  column  in  the  above  Table  which  indicates  the 
varying  prevalence  of  the  disease  since  1894  is  the  one 
headed  “ outbreaks,”  and  from  that  it  will  be  seen  that,  while 
the  operations  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture  appeared  to  have 
little  effect  during  the  first  thi*ee  years  (1894-1896),  there  was 
a striking  drop  in  the  number  of  outbreaks  in  1897.  In  1901, 
there  was  a marked  recrudescence,  followed  by  a rapid  decline, 
until  in  1905  the  disease  touched  its  lowest  ebb,  with  a total  of 
817  outbreaks.  During  the  following  two  years  the  outbreaks 
increased  to  an  alarming  extent,  and,  although  there  has  been 
a slight  improvement  during  the  last  two  years,  the  present 
condition  compares  unfavourably  with  that  which  had  been 
reached  in  1903,  and  is  very  much  worse  than  that  of  1905. 
Turning  now  to  the  column  headed  “ pigs  slaughtered,”  it 
has  to  be  observed  that  this  includes  not  only  the  actually 
diseased  animals  that  were  killed,  but  also  the  apparently 
healthy  pigs  slaughtered  in  consequence  of  presumed  exposure 
to  infection.  A glance  at  the  Table  will  show  that  the  pro- 
portion between  the  number  of  pigs  slaughtered  and  the 
number  of  outbreaks  has  been  far  from  uniform.  Thus 
between  1894  and  1900,  both  inclusive,  each  outbreak  entailed 
on  an  average  the  slaughter  of  thirteen  pigs,  but  between  1901 
and  1907,  both  inclusive,  this  average  was  only  five.  During  the 
first  of  those  periods  it  was  the  common  practice  to  slaughter 
