52 
EDITORIAL. 
“ This is all the American swine plague consists of; other lesions accompany 
it, but are not essential to it. 
“ 2. That the only and genuine American swine plague is caused by, appar 
ently, the same germ as that discovered by Schutz in the German disease, and, 
if the natural characteristics are the same, that the diseases are identical. * * * 
********** 
“ 3. Swine plague proper is a strictly infectious disease, and not a contagious 
disease in any sense of the term. 
‘ ‘ 4. That the so-called ‘ characteristic ’ ulcerative and neoplastic conditions, 
so frequently found in the large intestine in swine plague, are not necessary com¬ 
plications in that disease, and, hence, are not pathognomonic to it. * * * * 
‘ * 5. That death can be induced in healthy swine by inoculating them with 
an extra quantity of a very virulent virus, without there being an essential lesion 
present other than those in the lmyph-glands, and more or less ecchymotic 
haemorrhage. ***** 
“ 6. That those cases of swine plague which are characterized by an intense 
cholerine discharge are more frequently free from the so-called ‘ characteristic ’ 
ulcerative lesions in the large intestines than complicated by them. 
“ 7. That the cases characterized by the so-called ‘ characteristic ’ intestinal 
lesions are more often accompanied by constipation, until the latest stages, than 
by diarrhoea. 
“ 8. That the choleroid discharges are, in reality, those generally accom¬ 
panying the last stages of septicaemia, and, hence, are not dependent upon ulcer¬ 
ative lesions in the intestines. 
“9. That the term 'hog cholera’ is a misleading misnomer, and that the 
disease is really a septicaemia, with the lesions in the lymph-glands and lungs as 
its peculiar characteristic, but also accompanied by the usual acute parenchyma¬ 
tous process in the chief organs in the body—liver, spleen and kidneys. Not¬ 
withstanding the fact that Law and some other observers report no lesions in the 
kidneys, every competent observer will find these organs the seat of acute paren¬ 
chymatous disturbances in every case of natural infection; the cortex being 
opaque, anaemic, of a yellowish-gray color. 
A few words touching the value of the pulmonary or intes¬ 
tinal lesions, as found by American, English and German 
writers, and a reference to the possibility of its transmissibility to 
cattle, completes this valuable addition to the literature on hog 
cholera. 
Begulation of Veterinary Practice. —The passage of an 
act pretending to regulate the practice of veterinary medicine in 
the State of New York last year, having induced veterinarians in 
various other sections of the country to undertake the introduc¬ 
tion of similar State legislation, we have thought that a few 
remarks touching the benefits (?) enjoyed under its operation by 
their New York fraternity might be pertinent and profitable. 
