52 
EDITORIAL. 
observers throughout the world, the existence of three diseases, 
essentially different but which have been grouped under the sin¬ 
gle title of “ swine plagqes,” is now a definitely settled fact. 
These diseases are : 
1st. The “ rouget ” of the French and the “ rothlauf ” of the 
Germans, which it seems has not yet appeared on this continent; 
2d. The “ hog cholera ” of this country, corresponding to the 
“ infectious pneumo-enteritis ” of the English and the “ diphtheria 
of swine ” of Sweden and Denmark; and 
3d. The “ swine plague ” of Salmon, or the “ Schweine- 
seuche ” of the Germans. 
Let us now hope that the next important announcement we 
shall receive on the subject will be of an authenticated and suc¬ 
cessful means of treatment, of relief to breeders and owners, of 
safety for every one interested in swine property. 
Pasteurian vaccination was long since adopted and has been 
for years successfully practised in many of the countries of Europe, 
and if any apparent failures have attended the treatment, the fact 
has been due to the improper employment of the virus, in inocu¬ 
lating for a disease other than that which it was designed to con¬ 
trol. But its success has been assured when there has been no 
error in discriminating the disease, and its application has been 
confined to genuine cases of the rouget, from which it has been 
generated. That which has been found true in rouget must, and 
certainly will be found to be equally so in the other two forms of 
swine disease, and we consequently learn from our French news 
that Messrs. Cornill and Chantemesse have in that country suc¬ 
ceeded in attenuating the virulence of the microbe of hog cholera, 
with such results as to create true viruses, which confer immunity 
after a mild attack of the disease. 
And from Nebraska we hear of important progress achieved 
by Professor F. S. Billings in his investigation in the same direc¬ 
tion, and that he has in fact succeeded in obtaining the desired 
virus. No time should be lost in the promulgation of our Amer¬ 
ican discoveries, and in putting their authenticity and value to 
the test. American investigators have contributed largely to our 
present knowledge of swine plagues, and they cannot afford to 
