50 
N. S. TOWNSHEND. 
I regret that what I have to offer this evening is only “ A Con¬ 
tribution to the Study of Hog Cholera,” instead of an exhaustive 
treatment of the subjeet. My opportunities for investigation 
have been limited, and have occupied only such time as could be 
spared from the pressure of other duties. I have observed some¬ 
what hastily, several affected herds of swine, and examined the 
bodies of some fifty, supposed to have been subjects of this dis¬ 
ease, several of which were killed in order to determine what 
structural changes were discoverable in the earlier stages. I have 
not had sufficient opportunity to test the comparative efficacy of 
different modes of treatment. 
History .—So far as I am informed, a serious and often fatal 
disease of swine, known as Hog Cholera, lias been more or less 
prevalent in Ohio for twenty years. Whether this disease is iden¬ 
tical with any disease of swine of former periods or of other 
countries, is a question to which it may be presumed that sufficient 
attention has not been given, inasmuch as widely diverse opinions 
are entertained. Of late years the disease has presented itself in 
almost every State of the Union; but especially in States west 
and south. The report of the Department of Agriculture for 
1876, shows a loss in the State of Missouri of 30 per cent, of all 
the swine in the State; in the States of Illinois and Kentucky the 
loss was more than 20 per cent.; in Indiana, 18 per cent.; in 
Georgia, 10 per cent.; and in Ohio, 7 per cent. The aggregate 
loss of the whole country was twenty millions of dollars. 
Symptoms .—The first stage of the disease is congestive; the 
animal crawls under the litter, or huddles close to his compan¬ 
ions, refuses solid food and appears sluggish; this stage may last 
a few hours, or it may continue for a day or two. If the animal 
does not die apoplectic in the congestive state, reaction follows; 
then there is thirst, feverishness, and redness of the skin, especi¬ 
ally where the hairy covering is least abundant. In some animals 
this redness is diffused, but more frequently it appears in spots, 
from which the cuticle is sometimes raised in small blisters; the 
conjunctiva is reddened and the mouth is dry. The pulse is from 
100 to 120, and the temperature from 104° to 106°; and in one 
instance I found it as Mgh as 111°, Soon the abdomen becomes 
