288 Annual Report for 1908 of Royal Veterinary College. 
there is still a good deal of concealment of disease, but this will 
diminish as owners of infected studs realise the advantage 
which the new Order offers them, with the necessary con- 
sequence that for the next few years more horses will have to 
be destroyed and compensated for. Already a considerable 
check has been placed on the dishonest practice of selling 
suspected horses to unsuspecting purchasers, and there is reason 
to hope that the disease will before long be brought within 
narrow compass and finally stamped out. 
Swine Fever. 
The following Table shows the number of outbreaks of 
this disease for the past six years : — 
Year 
Outbreaks 
| 
Year 
Outbreaks 
1903 
1,478 
1906 
1,280 
1904 
1,196 
1907 
2,336 
1905 
817 
1908 
2,067 
The only consolation which is to be drawn from these 
figures is that last year has not been quite so bad as the 
immediately preceding one, which was the worst for a long 
period. In other respects the result of last year's operations 
against swine fever are highly disappointing, and they hold 
out no promise that the disease will ever be stamped out. That 
it could be stamped out there can be no doubt, but the late 
Sir George Brown was probably right when he said that it 
would have to be treated on cattle-plague lines if that was the 
end aimed at. When account is taken of the money which it 
has cost, and of the loss and inconvenience which it has caused 
to owners and breeders of pigs, one might be tempted to say 
that the attempt to stamp out swine fever was a mistake from 
the outset, and that it would be better to abandon it and to 
allow the disease to take its natural course. That, however, 
would be a mistake, for it cannot be doubted that if left 
unchecked it would soon cause enormously greater loss than 
it has occasioned in recent years. The comparative failure of 
the methods now in force is attributable to the highly conta- 
gious character of the disease, the difficulty of diagnosis during 
life, and the ease with which the existence of the disease can 
be concealed. The last of these is probably the most important, 
and one cannot expect to counteract the temptation to 
concealment except by making it worth the owner’s while 
to report, and by inflicting heavy penalties when concealment 
is proved. 
