REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON DISEASE. 
551 
iation fails to communicate it to other dogs, yet it runs a per¬ 
fectly definite course and ends fatally in every case. Dr. 
Lagorio says it is rabies, but I cannot see a single symptom 
of that disease in them.” 
Cornstalk Disease .—My personal attention has been called 
to only one outbreak of this disease last winter. 
Last fall, during the dry season, a report reached me from 
Franklin County that some contagious disease existed at Pitts 
Hill. On my arrival there I discovered that one man had 
lost three out of four horses in about three weeks’ time. They 
reported falling off in flesh, limbs became oedematous, and 
they were very much debilitated. When they got down 
they were unable to arise, and died without indicating much, 
if any, pain. They were pastured in an orchard on high 
ground, but the pasturage was short. They obtained some 
green fodder, and went to a well at the bottom of a hill in 
which a little stream of water drained, coming direct through 
a hog lot where about twenty hogs were wallowing in this 
stream. I drew up some of the water from this well, and the 
stench was so strong that I did not think it possible that a 
horse would drink it. While I was there a neighbor led two 
of his horses up to the trough, drew some of the water, and 
the horses drank it with avidity. He stated that he had just 
recently commenced watering at this place, for the reason 
that his well had gone dry. I warned him of the danger, 
and he seemed to appreciate it, and said that he would not 
water there again. I attributed the death of these three 
horses directly to this polluted water. 
Actinomycosis .—This disease during the past year has not 
been any more prevalent than in former years, nor do I think 
that it is diminishing. I have received numerous reports of 
isolated cases throughout the State, asking for advice. Oc¬ 
casionally some farmer, or feeder, will report three or four, 
or even more cases in his herd. One prominent feeder of 
Cass County, whom I recently met, told me that during the 
month of May about twenty cases appeared in his herd, but 
they were all of them local affections—loose tumors about 
the neck and jaw. He shipped seven of the worst cases with 
