the same time it passes wind, as a horse does with colic. Some were taken this way last September and died a week ago. I have a four-year-old filly now that was taken ill last September. She wintered nicely and is fat now. This filly is failing and will die. They feed up to within a few hours of death. When they lie down they are taken with violent pains, as if with colic, and never rally, and are in pain from two to three days. Horses on dry feed are not affected, but when turned on grass the trouble comes. There has been no neglect. These are blooded horses and have the best of care and attention. The disease, however, reaches the common farm horses just the same under like circumstances. The first we saw of this disease was about the beginning of July, 1885, and those then taken died quickly-sometimes three or four animals a day.

Early in June last Mr. Thomas Weaver, of Julietta, Nez Percés County, Idaho, wrote the Department concerning a very fatal disease then prevailing among horses in that county. He gave the symptoms and post-mortem appearances of the disease, as follows:

The first manifestation is a lagging behind the rest of the band, with staggering gait; the pulse is high but weak, indeed, can scarcely be felt; respiration short and quick. Some have cough, while others have no cough at all. The feces is hard and covered with slime. Toward the last swelling appears under the belly. They die generally within ten days after the first symptoms are observed, but they continue to eat up to the very last. We have opened a great many, and in all cases found about the same lesions. The lungs were inflamed in patches; the pleura, and, in fact, the whole inter-costal space was inflamed; the bowels were reddened in places; the liver was black, and the covering seemed rotten; the spleen was filled with black blood and enlarged to twice its natural size. The peritoneum was also inflamed, and that part covering the bowels was nearly all gone. All through their illness a rumbling sound may be heard in their bowels. Some have yellow-colored discharge from the nose. The afflicted animals seldom lay down. The disease prevails among range horses, and it prevails on almost every ranch.

August 14 last Dr. W. H. Cowell, Shawboro, N. C., wrote the Department, stating that the mortality among horses in eastern North Carolina was becoming fearful.

A severe mortality occurred among horses in the vicinity of Hampton, Elizabeth City County, Va., during the month of September last, from a disease which seemed to be new to the people of that locality. During the prevalence of the malady the Department was urgently requested to send a veterinarian to discover, if possible, the cause of the outbreak, and give such advice as might be necessary to check its spread; but at that time every inspector in the employ of the Bureau of Animal Industry was engaged in important investigations in distant States, and it was found impossible to comply with these requests. Mr. J. C. Phillips, statistical correspondent of the Department for Elizabeth City County, writing under date of September 18, gave the following symptoms of the disease:

We are very much troubled at this time with a disease among our horses. The general opinion is that it is blind staggers; others think it pneumonia. The symptoms are a loss of appetite, drowsy appearance, restlessness, a disposition to walk in a circle; always turning on the same side; turning in a shorter and shorter circle until the animal falls down and is unable to rise. The disease proves fatal in from twelve to thirty-six hours. It is very prevalent and very fatal. The horses have been carefully examined, and almost every treatment known or heard of has been tried, but with the same unsatisfactory results. We have had some of the carcasses examined to try and find out the cause and seat of the disease, but, having no veterinarian, everything has been unsatisfactory, and we are still groping entirely in the dark.

Mr. John S. Hamilton, Rappahannock Station, Culpeper County, Va., on the 18th of October last, informed the Department that a fatal disease was prevailing among horses in that focality, and requested that a veterinarian be sent at once to make an investigation as to the cause and nature of the malady. Dr. Kilborne, an in

spector of the Bureau of Animal Industry, visited the locality and examined a number of the afflicted animals, and found that they were suffering with indigestion and impaction of the stomach, the result of feeding on coarse food. In the letter above alluded to Mr. Hamilton gave the symptoms of the disease as follows:

The disease is most insidious in its attacks. When discovered it is always with a little dullness, and a half-closed, sleepy appearance of the eye. By the second day the gait of the animal becomes weak and staggering. The fever is high, and the legs begin to swell. Every horse so far attacked is either dead or hopelessly sick. The disease has been principally confined to my own farm, though horses belonging to Messrs. William Jennings, Harry Bowen, and B. Foster have suffered to some extent.

Dr. F. L. Kilborne, a veterinary inspector of this Bureau, who made an investigation as to the nature and cause of this disease, made the following report:

In accordance with your instructions of October 19, 1886, I visited the farm of Mr. John S. Hamilton, near Rappahannock Station, Va., on October 21, for the purpose of investigating the cause and nature of a strange disease prevailing among the horses of that vicinity. I found the reported outbreak to be confined to seven animals, six of which had been pastured together on Mr. Hamilton's farm, and the seventh, belonging to a neighbor, was taken sick a few days after working in a team with one of the above six, which afterward died. Four of the six had died at intervals of two or three days, after an illness of only two to five days. The last death occurred October 16. I was informed that all had essentially the same symptoms, and, with the exception of being more acute, were similar to those of the three sick animals I was able to examine.

A bay gelding in the stable of Mr. Hamilton had been sick five days, and a sorrel gelding four days. At this time both were confined in a close stable, covered with double blankets, and the limbs thickly bandaged. The blankets and bandages were applied by advice of a horse-dealer, who visited the stable October 17, and found the limbs of the bay horse "stony cold." The sorrel was not observed to have had a chill. At 3 p. m. of October 21 the bay had a temperature of 101° F., pulse 50, healthy, with slightly quickened respirations, which were a little labored. The sorrel had a temperature of 103° F., pulse 70, respiration 25, labored. The eyes and general expression of each were bright and intelligent. I could detect no evidence of any nervous symptoms, although a few cases were reported to have been somewhat dull at the outset. Manipulation and pressure detected no tenderness along spine, over kidneys, or over the region of the stomach.

When we entered the stable both horses were eating straw, and without moving the animals the only apparent symptom of disease was the slightly quickened, rather difficult respirations; especially marked in the sorrel. The folds were apparently normal. The urine, although said to have been suppressed at first, for which small doses of nitre had been given, was now passed regularly. In attempting to make the animals move over in the stall, they refused to do so at command, and it was only by vigorous pushing that they could be made to move their hind feet from the floor, when they stumbled, or rather floundered over very clumsily, and barely escaped falling. It was evident they had very little control over movement of the hind limbs. This partial paralysis of the hind quarters was said to be the first and only marked symptom in every case of the disease. In fact it was the one common symptom, as observed by the farmers of that vicinity.

After carefully examining the horses in the stable, the blankets and bandages were removed, and the animals, with great difficulty, led from the stable to the yard, the hind quarters swaying from side to side as if the horse were about to fall. Movement was necessarily very slow. The fore limbs were moved freely, but the hind limbs with great difficulty, and the steps were short and shuffling. Movement in a straight line, however, was much less difficult than in a small circle. They were walked around for thirty minutes, the gait improving quite rapidly with the exercise, so that they moved with a longer step, and much freer than when taken out. This was the first exercise they had in four days. During the half hour's walk neither horse passed any dung.

Both cases were diagnosed stomach staggers. The animals were returned to the stable, thoroughly "rubbed down," a single blanket applied, with lighter bandages for the limbs, which were removed entirely the next day. All course food was removed, and the horses fed exclusively on bran mashes and scalded oats in moderate allowance. At 6 and 10 p. m. a copious injection of warm water was

given each animal. Previous to the last injection each horse was drenched with one-half pint of linseed oil and three drams aloes (all we had at hand). In each case before giving the injection we were obliged to unload the rectum, which was impacted with the feces. Apparently dung was passed only when forced out by the feces behind. In the morning (October 22) the bay had a temperature of 100° F., pulse 40, and respiration normal; the sorrel a temperature 1014, pulse 55, and respiration very much improved. During the night both horses passed feces, softened by the injections; the laxative dose given by the mouth being too small to produce any appreciable effect. Upon leading the horses out in the morning they walked much more freely than the evening before.

The third horse visited had essentially the same symptoms (temperature 102° F., pulse 50, respiration slightly labored), except that he had been walked daily, had better control over his hind limbs, and moved more easily. In this case, also, all coarse food was removed and the diet restricted to mashes and scalded oats. The animal was given the warm-water injections but no laxative, there being none at hand. In the morning his condition was evidently improved. The first two cases appeared to have an abnormal craving for dry coarse fodder, and while being walked in the yard would avail themselves of every opportunity to pick dry weeds, but especially rag-weed. The acute symptoms of the animals that died, and milder course of the disease in the sick animals examined, was probably due to the fact that the former were allowed to remain in pasture and the latter were placed in the stable before symptoms of the disease appeared.

Although this immediate outbreak was limited to the seven animals above mentioned, other farmers in the county were reported as having lost several animals with apparently the same disease. At Rappahannock Station I met several farmers who had recently lost horses, usually with symptoms similar to those given above; but I was unable to learn of any others that were now sick. Unfortunately I had no opportunity of holding an autopsy to ascertain the condition of the internal organs. As far as could be learned every case of the disease occurred among horses at pasture, and in no instance was a stabled animal so affected. Some farmers had lost one or more at pasture, and fearing contagion had taken their horses from the pasture to the stable, where all remained healthy.

The pastures, when examined, were found to be very dry from a protracted drought. The grasses were dried and apparently dead. In this vicinity the pastures were mostly covered with an abundant rank growth of very dry, weedy rag-weed (Ambrosia artemisæfolia, L.; also popularly called Roman worm-wood, hog-weed, bitter-weed). The horses were compelled to feed largely upon this rag-weed, and, judging from the two cases above mentioned, they may have recently acquired an abnormal appetite for this particular corse, indigestible fodder. Droughts of previous years have usually been accompanied by the loss of horses in this locality, and the more severe the drought the greater the losses. The symptoms were said to have been similar, so that, presumably, the cause was the same each year. The prevalence of the disease is, therefore, to be attributed to the drought, causing a great scarcity of the forage grasses, followed by feeding upon coarse, dry, indigestible aliment, but especially the rag-weed.

GLANDERS.

In February last Mr. Eugene Henderson, of Ferguson, Saint Louis County, Mo., informed the Department of the supposed existence of glanders in a couple of horses owned by a gentleman of that county.

Mr. C. E. Laherty, Colton, Whitman County, Wash., writing under date of May 3d last, gives the following symptoms of a disease which is no doubt glanders:

I write you concerning a disease which is quite prevalent among horses in this county. Nearly every farmer has a horse afflicted with it. The symptoms are a running from the nostrils, accompanied with a swelling of the glands under the jaw-the lymphatic and sub-maxillary. In some animals the symptoms are those of farcy-that is, corded veins and farcy buds. By some it is called nasal gleet, while others contend that it is glanders. The discharge much resembles the white of an egg, and sticks to the edge of the nostrils. The membrane lining of the nose has been found to be covered with ragged-edged ulcers.

On the 1st of June last Mr. E. R. Bowen, of Red Wing, Minn., informed the Department of the prevalence of a disease among horses in that county which was supposed to be glanders.

Mr. Robert Neal, Temple, Bell County, Tex., writing under date of July 4th last, gives the following account of the prevalence of glanders among his horses:

The people of this whole neighborhood are frightened about the condition of my stock. A disease is prevailing among my horses which kills every one attacked by it. When first taken the animal looks droopy or sleepy. This condition lasts about three weeks, when the nostrils begin to discharge freely. Sometimes this discharge ceases from the left but continues from the right nostril until the animal dies. Frequently the nose bleeds-generally the right nostril-which will continue for about half an hour and suddenly cease. There is no blood mixed with the discharge from the nose. Lameness after a while in the hind legs sets in, and boils appear on the inside of the legs and under the belly. These boils attain the size of a hen's egg. When lanced they discharge a pus similar to that found in boils. The animal grows weak in the loins, and when it gets down it can not get up without assistance. The drippings from the nostrils swim on the water as would a feather. I have lost five mules by the disease and have four more which will no doubt die in a short time if something is not done to relieve them. I have a fine mare also sick, and a full-blooded Norman stallion purchased in Iowa, and which cost me a big sum of money. This last-named animal is very badly off. He has been bleeding at the right nostril, and his hind legs are badly swollen and full of boils. * * The disease seems to be spreading all over the country. It has broken me up, and will ruin many others if not soon checked.

*

Mr. Neal was informed that the disease described above was glanders, and as there was no remedy for it the only alternative was to slaughter the animals as soon as the first symptoms of the malady appeared.

SPINAL MENINGITIS AMONG HORSES.

Elsewhere in this report will be found the results of Dr. W. H. Harbaugh's investigation of a disease known as "staggers" among horses in Virginia and North Carolina. Recently an outbreak of disease occurred among a number of horses belonging to Mr. W. W. Gordon, of New Kent County, Va., which was investigated by Dr. Bowles, business partner of Dr. Harbaugh. The results of this investigation, as communicated to him by Dr. Bowles, are thus given by Dr. Harbaugh :

There were 16 horses and mules on the farm, 6 of which were suffering from what Dr. Bowles positively diagnosed as epizootic cerebro-spinal meningitis. Three horses and 1 mule died; 2 mules are beyond recovery, if not now dead. The feed consisted of corn and fodder; fodder in a very bad condition. Dr. Bowles assigns the cause of the disease to the quality of the fodder. He advised change of feed and administered a cathartic to each one of the remaining animals not attacked, as a preventive measure.

New Kent County is situated north of the James River, and north of the district known to me as the "stagger district," and I therefore consider this matter of much importance, as it is another point in favor of my view of staggers, i. e., that staggers and epizootic cerebro-spinal meningitis are not one and the same disease. You will also take note of the fact that in this outbreak the malady is as fatal to mules as to horses. Another point I wish to call your attention to is the occurrence of this outbreak during the past remarkable cold weather. Staggers occurs only during the hot months.

Dr. Bowles says this particular form is situated high up on the banks of the Pamunky River. From inquiries among the neighboring farmers he is of the opinion that epizootic staggers is an unknown and unheard-of disease in that section.

SWINE PLAGUE.

Mr. James H. Hardison, Salina, Kans., writing under date of February 19, 1886, says:

Last spring swine plague made its appearance among my hogs, and I lost about 700 head, large and small. I gathered up the remnants and bred them, and last fall I had about 200 pigs from them. They thrived well until about a month ago, when they commenced to die, and since then about 80 head have succumbed to the disease. The older animals still remain healthy.

In a letter dated March 11, 1886, Dr. Hamilton C. Kibbie, of Oblong, Ill., writes that swine plague is prevailing as an epidemic among the hogs in that locality.

Dr. M. R. Trumbower, inspector of the Bureau of Animal Industry, while on a professional visit to Pennsylvania in April last, found some cases of swine plague at Coopersburgh, in that State, which he reported as follows:

Mr. William Meyers, living 24 miles east of Coopersburgh, Pa., purchased 4 sixmonths' old hogs of Samuel Gehian, about the 15th of December last. On the 28th of the same month he purchased 3 hogs of the same age of William Bartholomew. They were all placed in the same stable, which was divided into three apartments, the Bartholomew hogs occupying the south pen and the Gehman hogs the other two. All of these animals, excepting one of the Bartholomew hogs, which was smaller than the rest, made rapid growth. This one did not appear to be as thrifty as the others. This one, which I will call No. 1, began to manifest difficulty in breathing, coughed, and then appeared to swell on the neck and shoulders. It soon quit eating almost entirely. A week later one of the Gehman hogs in the second or middle stable began to lose in appetite and became stiff in its movements, being inclined to lie in the bedding all the time. Mr. Meyers had been feeding oilcake meal in milk and slops pretty freely, and thought he had foundered them, but one of his neighbors told him they had the corns (whatever that may be), and proposed to cut them out. Within a few days No. 3, a Bartholomew hog, was taken sick, laid in the bedding and refused to eat. About this time Mr. Meyers noticed that 5 of the 7 head were stiff in front and the lower part of the shoulder was swollen, according to the degree of their illness. He then had the corns cut in all of them and administered sulphate of magnesia and fed them sulphur, saltpeter and gunpowder. He says they began to eat better but did not grow any. Since the middle or latter part of March they again began to grow worse, increasing in stiffness and turning violet and purple along the abdomen and neck. This is substantially the condition in which I found them at my first examination yesterday.

Bartholomew Pig No. 1.-Temperature 102.2°. Dyspnoea excessive, and very weak. She could only stand on her feet for about ten minutes after being raised up. Purple discolorations on the lower surface of the chest, with circumscribed pointed pimples. Soreness on the snout, with cracking of the skin. Difficulty of deglutition, but eats sparingly. Feces hard-balled; moist cough; swelling of the throat and shoulders; conjectivia injected, and membranes pale with a bluish cast. She has had to be raised and pushed to the trough for the past ten days.

Gehman Pig No. 2.-Temperature 104°. Has to be raised and pushed to the trough. Red and purple blush on the abdomen. Slight cough; throat very little swollen; shoulders swollen considerably; nose and lips cyanotic; eyes watery; eats some. Batholomew Pig No. 3.-Temperature 102.5°. Eats moderately well; feces very dry and coated; membrane of rectum very highly colored; swollen shoulders, and very sore when she moves.

Batholomew Pig No. 4.Temperature 102°. Eats well; eyes bright; ears pointed; stiff gait.

Gehman pig No. 5.-Lame in one hind leg.

Gehman pigs Nos. 6 and 7.-Slightly stiff in front.

The following is a record of the temperature at 10 o'clock a. m., April 7: No. 1. 100.5°; No. 2, 102.2°; No. 3, 102°; No. 4, 101°. In all other respects about the same as yesterday. No. 1 experiences considerable tenesma on defacation, and the mucous membrane of rectum dark purple in color. Iexamined the tongue, mouth, abdomen, and other parts to discover cysticerous cysts, but failed to find any evidence of them. The swelling of the shoulders of all, the excessively painful movement of the front limbs, and the swelling of the throat in three of the animals, led me to expect the possibility of the existence of cysticerci. On the contrary, there is the entire absence of foul breath in the one which is almost on the point of suffocation, no external evidence of cysts, no loosening of the hair, no brain symptoms. Neither is it likely that all seven should be affected with the disease and manifesting such a similarity of symptoms. Parotiditis and tonsilitis are excluded by slowness of the disease, as they have not changed for the better or worse within two weeks. In favor of swine plague, the following reasons remain: The reported existence of swine plague last summer in the county from which three of B.'s hogs came (Mr. Bartholomew purchased these animals near Little York, Hunterdon County, N. J., last December). Difficult breathing in two of the cases; constipation (persistent) in all of them; the red and purple discoloration of the surface of the body, which do not disappear on pressure. These, together with lesser significant symptoms, may point to a mild and chronic form of swine plague.