Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1857-10-15
From the Baltimore Sun.
HOG CHOLERA.

From the Baltimore Sun.
HOG CHOLERA.
INTERESTING REPORT FROM THE STATE CHEMIST
The public attention has been for long time
directed to the existence of fearful malady a.
mongst hogs under the above name. 1t has pre-
vailed for more than year in the large distille-
ries of the West and South as we'll as in the
small pens of country farmers in the East and
North; it has committed serious ravages in the
southern and middle States; and early in the
spring was called on by the owner of large
distillery here to attend to his hogs, which were
rapidly dying [ went at once to see them, and
obtained for examination the blood of many OF
the hogs in perfect health for the purpose OF
comparison with that of those IN 0fticalo morris
lin the act of dying) These examinations
carefully made revealed the fact of a high in
fammatory condition of the system, as the sub
joined analysis shows:
Healthy Hog Blood-Cot-frm, not large
scarlet colored solids, normal; fibrin as 2.33
per 1000.
Diseased Hog Blood C1ot-not firm but
large; brown coored; solids, less than in the
healthy; fibrin as $50 per 1000.
The blood in each case was taken from the
arteries.
This condition of the blood evinced a high de-
gree OF lnfammatory action, but did not show
Id what particular organ or organs, structure Or
structures the Inflammation was located. 10
discover this | made numerous aost-mortem ex-
Saminations and found, LIST: The brain, healthy
the heart, do; the stomach, do; bowels, includ-
ing the greater or lesser intestines, do; kidneys
do; liver, do. melt. or spleen, do lungs intense
ly diseased; in the upper part they were en-
gorged with dark grumous, bruised-looking
blood, and in the lower lobes the Inflammation
had proceeded to sufocation, being filled with
purulent bloody matter, and entirely incapable
OF carrying on the process of breathing. The
left lung was generally more affected than the
right, and in every instance the inflammation
had proceeded to a greater extent in the lower
than upper parts Of the lung-in some cases the
peculiar structure of the lung could not be seen,
so entirely had it become disorganized. In no
cases were well defined assesses found, nor was
the windpipe infamed but a short distance from
the seat of the diseased lung
Symotoms.-The first symptoms were lazi-
ness on the part of the animal affected, some
loss of appetite, a kind of husky grunt approach
ing to cough, sometimes a slight purging of
the bowels, and yellowish colored urine then
the animal would become more weak and seem
to be paralized in the small of the back, totter
about for short time, and finally lay down and
die.
The treatment was divided into two parts
prophylactic (preventive) and curative. With
view to the first the pens were scattered over
with plaster of Paris and water Stacked lime,
whilst at the same time, they and the troughs
were washed with gas tar. The curative treat
ment was the administration Of soda ash and
borilla. There is some trouble in the solution
of borilla, and on this account soda ash
should always be used with it. About ten
grains of soda ash and the same amount of bo-
rilla should be given to each hog two or three
times daily, mixed in their food. This should
be given to the healthy as well as the sick hogs.
To the well it does no harm; to the sick it is a
successful remedy. As in the human species,
SO in hogs Inflammation of the lungs is a most
insiduous disease, going on to the destruction
of the patient before the mere symptoms give
cause of alarm, and in many instances hogs
which appeared healthy yet were seriously af-
fected with lung inflammation.
The above remedies were used on about three
thousand hogs, and in the utmost intensity of
the disease The number of their deaths dimin-
ished seventy-five per cent. on the second day
after their administration, and in short time
the disease disappeared from the locality.
= AS soon as the hogs were manifestly sick they
were put in pens to themselves and subjected to
the above treatment Of these about thirty per
cent. recovered, whilst before all died.
Causes.-It is disease of general atmospher-
ic origin, influenced by special, local, exciting
causes, such as the sweating sickness, black
death, cholera and other epidemics, which at
different times have devastated, more or less, all
parts Of the earth, and of whose intrinsic nature
we know but very little. It is not confined to
distilleries, but has also proved destructive in
the country. It is not produced by strychnine,
or any vegetable or mineral poison.
!. The disease attended with swollen jaws the
proper name of which is hog quinsy, prevailing
in some parts of the State, has no connection
with the above, and can be most successfully
treated by making incisions over the swelling
and then pouring in a small quantity of salt and
turpentine.
should be obliged to persons throughout the
United States, who have observed this disease,
to examine the blood and the different organs,
and report to me the results; should any be in
capable Of making an analysis Of the blood
will with pleasure furnish them with instruc-
tons how to perform it. JAMES HIGGINS.
State Agricultural Chemist of Maryland.