REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON DISEASE. 
481 
afraid we have now several localities more or less permanent¬ 
ly affected. 
“During the last three years we have inspected over 
650,000 Southern cattle which have passed into or through this 
State, without the occurrence of a single outbreak of Texas 
fever. The quarantine against Southern cattle is vigorously 
carried out by special inspectors appointed by the Board. 
“ I think if our County Commissioners can be prevailed 
upon to see that the carcasses of all animals which have died 
from anthrax or anthracoid diseases are thoroughly disposed 
of, in order to prevent contamination of the soil from this dis¬ 
ease, we shall be able to report in the future a death rate from 
such diseases of less than one-third of one per cent. We en¬ 
dorse Pasteur’s system of preventive inoculation for anthrax 
and anthracoid diseases. 
“ Spasma glottidis is a disease peculiar to the Rocky 
Mountain regions, and is characterized by great difficulty of 
breathing on exertion. It finally causes total asphyxia and 
collapse of the animal if urged into a gallop. It is due to ner¬ 
vous contraction of the muscles of the larynx, dependent upon 
disease of branches of the pneumogastric nerve which gradu¬ 
ally increases in severity, and causes death of the animal in 
from one to six months after an attack. It is confined almost 
exclusively to range horses, and to special localities. Six out¬ 
breaks have come to my knowledge in the State during the 
past two years, with a loss of about 250 head of horses. 
“ The loss from scab in sheep is serious, and demands vig¬ 
orous and continuous handling for its complete eradication, 
and immunity from outside invasion should be guaranteed. 
“ Losses from poisonous weeds and grasses on the open 
range are unavoidable, and must be for the most part accept¬ 
ed as one of the penalties of the range business. Such poisons 
are not as a rule eaten by any animal unless the natural 
grasses are scarce, and at times in the year when such poison 
plants are ahead of other vegetation in growth, and are then 
more dangerous to the semi-domesticated animal, with the 
natural functions of food selections not so well developed. 
Closely allied to the poisonous grasses in their affects are var- 
1 
