SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
487 
district are immune, otherwise they would contract the disease and die. 
Doubtless they obtain their immunity by undergoing a mild attack of 
the disease while they are young, and, if so, why should we not follow 
the way pointed out by nature and artificially infect young animals that 
are destined for the Texas fever district ? This has been successfully 
done and it has been shown that the artificially immunized animals were 
able to resist the disease when taken to the infected section of the coun¬ 
try. The principle is thoroughly demonstrated, and it only remains to 
work out the details of the method, by determining the variations which 
are required according to the age and breed of the animals and season 
of the year. We majq therefore, claim with complete justice that the 
veterinary profession of the United States has not only explained the 
mysteries of Texas fever, but that it now offers adequate means for the 
prevention of this disease. 
The infectious diseases of swine have long caused such enormous 
losses that the swine growers have been discouraged and many of them 
financially ruined, while even the Federal government has been greatly 
concerned on account of the destruction of property and the menace to 
an important item of the food supply and of the export trade. Veteri¬ 
nary science has had much to contend with before it could offer a practi¬ 
cal and efficient solution of the problem of preventing these losses. It 
was necessary to consider the vast number of animals liable to the dis¬ 
ease and the great extent of territory over which they are distributed ; 
also the relatively small value of each individual and the fact that the 
losses are caused by two distinct diseases, each of which requires its 
own specific treatment, while the symptoms are so obscure that it is 
difficult in the field to distinguish one from the other. 
Hygienic surroundings, isolation, disinfection, medical treatment, 
inoculation and vaccination were all tried without satisfactory results. 
In individual cases, benefit was undoubtedly derived from the intelli¬ 
gent application of these measures ; but the proportion of failures was 
too great, the success was too uncertain and, as it is to be expected un¬ 
der such circumstances, no general and systematic efforts were made. 
Last year some experiments were conducted with the stamping-out 
sj'Stem, that is, by killing diseased and infected animals with a view to 
arresting the multiplication of the contagion. It was showm by these 
experiments that it is possible to greatly reduce the losses by this 
radical method ; but it requires a large force of men to find all the in¬ 
fected herds in even a single State ; it requires a vast sum of money to 
compensate for the slaughtered animals ; and, worse than all, the en¬ 
forced slaughter and quarantine develops an opposition fatal to the rigid 
prosecution of this plan of operations over a large extent of territory. 
There remained but one resource to which we could turn with hope 
in the present condition of science. That is, the use of antitoxic serum. 
The researches made in this direction have shown that it is possible to 
produce a serum that will immunize animals to both of these diseases, 
and that will also cure both. This treatment was first tried with small 
animals such as rabbits and guinea pigs in the laboratory, and, being 
successful there, was tested late last year with herds of infected swine. 
Of about 250 animals in infected herds, over 75 per cent, were saved, 
while in herds not treated 85 per cent. died. This year, the results with 
about the same number of animals have been even better and the pros- 
