436 
W. L. WILLIAMS. 
normally developed, except a slight spinal curvature and ab¬ 
sence of an anus and part of the intestine, and relates that the 
mother when five months pregnant was slightly horned b} 
another cow high in the right flank, sufficient to cause a 
bruise as large as a fifty cent piece, and says: “ No other con¬ 
clusion could be reached than to ascribe the cause of the ab¬ 
normalities of the calf to the blow which its mother received! 
four months previous to the birth,” and concluded that this 
case furnished a powerful argument in favor of dehorning, 
How a slight wound insufficient to abrade the mother’s skin, 
and located in a part quite distant from the foetus in utero. 
could curve the spinal column of the foetus, annihilate a con¬ 
siderable portion, and displace the remainder of its intestine 
without injuring the dam or the foetal membranes, or in any 
way interfering with the health and growth of the foetus itself, 
the author does not attempt to explain. In fact he cannot 
explain except by revolutionizing our present knowledge of 
embryology, and the contribution without reasonable explana¬ 
tion is certainly unwarranted. Yet station directors demand 
and expect contributions of the character of these for the pur¬ 
pose of making a show in their bulletin, and thus attempt to 
have the public believe that the station veterinarian is actively: 
engaged in important scientific work. I know that some of 
these bulletins were written under protest from their authors,! 
but their protests were ignored. 
The past year’s record is a fair sample of preceding years, 
with a few notable exceptions, and gives a reasonable estimate 
of the returns for the annual expenditure of $50,000 in this 
work. 
In earlier years Billings and Detmers have contributed 
considerable of interest to experiment station literature, con¬ 
fined chiefty to hog cholera, although they have added some 
minor contributions of distinct merit. All are to some extent 
acquainted with the hog cholera contributions of Billings, 
which are so heavily adulterated with personal egotism for 
himself, and personal hatred towards others, as to render it 
difficult to sift out valuable truth, and it will probably be sev¬ 
eral years before a safe estimate can be placed on the value of 
