Annual Report for 1913 of Royal Veterinary College. 349 
Parasitic Mange. 
The Order under which mange in horses is now dealt with 
only came into force on January 1, 1912. During that year 
2,873 outbreaks, with 6,068 animals attacked, were reported. 
During the past .year there were 500 fewer outbreaks and 
1,444 fewer animals attacked, which may be considered a 
fairly satisfactory result. 
Swine Feyer. 
The following Table shows the number of reported out- 
breaks of this disease during each of the last seven years : 
Year 
Outbreaks 
1907 
■ • • 
• • • 
2.336 
1908 
• • • 
2,067 
1909 
• • ■ 
1,650 
1910 
• • • 
1.598 
1911 
• • • 
2,466 
1912 
• • • 
2,920 
1913 
• • • 
• • • 
• • • 
2,573 
The result of last year’s operations against the. disease must 
be considered very unsatisfactory and disappointing. The 
only crumb of satisfaction that can be extracted fiom the 
figures is that the year was not so bad as its predecessor. It is 
not possible to infer from them that the measures now in force 
will ever stamp the disease out. 
Swine fever is a disease which is absolutely peculiar to the 
pig species. Not only does it not spread to other animals 
under natural circumstances, but it also cannot be communi- 
cated to these by inoculation or other experimental methods 
of infection. The cause has not been identified with the 
microscope, presumably because of its very minute size, for 
such a liquid as blood serum may be proved by inoculation to 
be rich in the so-called “virus” of the disease although no 
bacteria or other micro-organisms can be detected in it by the 
highest magnification of which the best modern microscopes 
are capable. As it is easy to prove that the cause multiplies m 
the bodies of infected swine no one doubts that it is a living 
organism. Hitherto it has not been found possible to induce 
the cause to grow or multiply outside the body, that is to say, 
it has not yet been cultivated artificially. 
In a pig suffering from acute swine fever the cause or 
virus is abundantly present in the blood, and it also frequent y 
occurs in certain of the excretions, notably the urine and the 
discharge from the eyes, and probably also the faeces. Inocu- 
lation is the most certain experimental method o± infection, 
but the disease may also be set up by causing health} pigs o 
inhale or swallow the virus. The disease spreads readi } } 
