POST-MORTEM INSPECTION OF SWINE. 
25 
In s\tfine plague the lesions are so similar to those of hog 
cholera that it is hard to distinguish one from the other, and 
the two diseases are seen together so frequently that it can not 
be done in the short space of time allowed 11s for examination. 
The principal difference seems to be that in swine plague the 
disease begins in the lungs, and spreads from there to other 
parts, while in hog cholera it appears to have started in the in¬ 
testines and extended from there to other parts. But the patho¬ 
logical lesions are so similar that a positive post-mortem 
diagnosis can not be made without the aid of a microscope. 
Why do we condemn for this disease ? 
First, for sentimental reasons. 
Second, we find that the hog cholera bacillus produces a 
ptomain which has been called sucholotoxin, and a proteid sub- 
stance called sucholoabumin. Experimentally these substances, 
in very small doses, are not fatal to experimental animals, but 
in larger doses they will produce death with some of the promi¬ 
nent symptoms of hog cholera. A properly regulated dose will 
produce a sickness for a short time, when recovery will take 
place and afterward the animal will show some immunity from 
the disease. 
Dead Hogs.—One difficult point oftentimes is to be able to 
say absolutely whether a hog has died a short time before it 
was stuck and scalded, or whether it was poorly stuck so it did 
not bleed out well and consequently fell into the tub alive and 
was drowned while being scalded. In both cases, when the 
animal reaches the inspector it will show that it has not 
bled out well. The lungs, kidneys and liver will be full of 
blood in both cases. If the hog was poorly stuck and dropped 
into the scalding tank alive, there would still be the peristaltic 
action of the bowels, some twitching of the muscles and possibly 
some beating of the heart, while in a dead hog these would 
be absent. Sometimes in cases difficult to make a clear dis¬ 
tinction, if they are permitted to hang in the cooler for a few 
days the dead one will show signs of decomposition. The dead 
ones are always condemned, no matter how well they may 
