4 
EDITORIAL. 
_ £ _____ 
from New York to Nebraska, subject, perhaps, after reaching its 
destination, to still more delay before being tested, and then 
prove effective and successful? We doubted this when we sent 
the vaccine to the author of the report, and we notified him of 
our fears. We are not, therefore, surprised at what he publishes 
to-day, even though lie wrote to us: “ I believe the inoculation 
will prove a grand success.” We did not believe it to be possible,and 
we doubt whether Mr. Pasteur himself entertained much hope of its 
success. He had told us that he had known the vaccine to keep good 
for five weeks. The matter used in the experiments in Nebraska 
must at least have been prepared about the twenty-fifth of Sep¬ 
tember, and it was not earlier than the second of November that 
the first inoculation was performed. The loss of the value of this 
vaccine is not surprising. Its success, under the circumstances, 
was an unreasonable expectation, and to conclude that the “ inoc¬ 
ulation theory” is wrong, is, to express it very mildly, an error. 
If the cold logic of fact (a single fact) seems to disprove the 
theory in Nebraska, what shall be said of the same logic of facts 
—in t^e plural—which prove it to be almost a certain success , and 
almost the only prophylactic measure against hog cholera in most 
of the countries of Europe, whenever the process has been repeated 
with fresh vaccine ? 
Parturient apoplexy is a disease which interests all of us 
veterinarians and to which the agriculturist cannot remain indif¬ 
ferent. We profess to know a good deal about it, or at least 
much has been written on the subject. In the present number we 
have printed two articles, one of which was read before the Ohio 
State Yeterinary Association, the other being a translation of a 
paper in French, received by us from St. Louis. We hope that 
both will prove interesting to our readers, and while they may 
greatly differ there is no doubt that great advantages may be 
derived from their perusal. 
The use of cocaine in veterinary surgery, and the advantages 
attending it, receive another illustration in the paper which will 
be found in the present issue, from Dr. James. The aid of cocaine 
in performing the simple operation of neurotomy, shows but one 
of the numerous occasions upon which the surgeon may derive 
