The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1884-01-17
Bovine Diseases.


with the contagious diseases OF animals
those most suitable for d scuSsion at
this convention are the ones which are
nearest related to the sub iect of proven
ton. There are still too many people
who cling to old id aas of the origin and
nature of contag ,ous diseases. OurpOpu-
lar writers still teach that they are the
result of the "abSorpt on of foul matter
from impure air, and that good ventla-
ton and pure air are specific prevent
ives" Good ventilation and pure air
are excellent things, but if they are
specific preventives how can we explain
the cases of CHAMBERS which occur
among horses that seldom see the inside
of a stable, the cases of hog cholera in
the open fed, and of chicken cholera
among fowls which are never housed?
Other writers. and Their name is le-
gion, tell us that the origin Of hog
cholera, for instance, is easily explained
by the conditions under which hogs
are raised, particularly in the West.
Large numbers are kept together; they
have the rcprehens BILE habit of crowd
inc each other to an uncomfortable de-
gree IN their sleeping places; they have
so Lille regard for hygienic rules as to
be two or three deep. AS a necessary
con equence the under hog breath 8
terribly impure air; he even inspires so
much dust that this alone would cause
inflammation of the lungs. Couple this
with his iniudiciouS and irregular diet,
and the origin of hog cholera is so clear
that our friends are abundantly salts
fled; they rather object TO add tioral
evidence for fear of unsettling beliefs
now held with tn most implicit conf
dence. We are even told that foot-and-
mouth disease is as indigenous to Eng
land as the fogs and mists; that it al
ways existed and always will, because
it is provoked by the climate and man
ner of keeping the cattle.
The truth seems to be with most il
not all the contagious fevers that every
case is produced directly or indirectly
from germs which were developed by a
case which preceded it, just rs every
crop of corn is produced by seed from a
proceed NJ crop. / care not how well
you prepare your ground, how favora-
BILE you make the cond tions of life, you
can not get a crop of cOrn-so con-
tag;ous fever is the result of the devel-
opment of living organism in the ami
NAL body, and you can no more get a
crop of that organism without seed
than you can the crop of corn. just
here l am usually met with an argu-
ment apparently looked upon as invul-
nerable, forever demonstrating the
spontaneous production of animal
plaques. These diseases, it is said,
could not always have been contracted
from pre-existing cases for the very rea-
son that some time in the remote there
were no pre-existing animals-there
must have been a first case of disease.
No doubt of it; but this is one of those
philosophical considerations which is
! not as practicable as it appears upon its
face. So, too, there must have been a
first grain of corn, first pig, first
sheep, a first calf; but let the young
farmer of to-day put his land in the
most favorable condition possible, and
sit upon the fence expecting the origin
de novo of his corn, his pigs, his sheep
and his cattle-you know that he might
sit there until his hair was white and
his eyes grew dim with age without see
ing such phenomenon-nO, not if his
farm took in continent and his field of
vision embraced it all. And if the con-
tagious organisms were as large as cat
tie, sheep or pigs, or even as grains of
corn, SO that their goings and comings
might be traced as we can trace these
things, there would be no more ques-
ton of the origin of CHAMBERS and hog
cholera from the conditions of life than
there is of cattle from the grass Of your
fields or corn from your fertile soil.
Contagious fevers, then, are caused by
specific germs, and SO long as animals
are exposed to these a considerable por-
ton will sicken and die in spite of
hygienic surroundings, in spite of good
and proper food, unless they are grant
ed an immunity by methods analogous
to vaccination.-Dr T.. Y. Salmon, at
the CticdJo Convention.