The Dickinson press., 1891-04-04

Hog cholera is due to feeding on sour
swill, grain or corn distillery slop, the
essence of the sourness being a vinegar
which is formed in the food after the
alcoholic fermentation has had its run.
The llinship of alcohol and vinegar is
very close, us all distillers know, their
great art being to stave off the vinegar
fermentation. Bakers know it also.
They strive to keep their dough from
being sour. The first effects of exclusive
feeding on this sour or vinegar food is
generally to produce constipation; next
diarrhea, as tho bowels, moro or less
parafyzed by the contact Of the alcohol,
vinegar, carbonic acid gas, ETC., become
disteuded, thickened, and pour off vary
ing quantities of glairey, gluey or watery
fluid that come mostly from the para
lyzed cells coating the bowels.
After while the blood becomes in
fected with the vinegar yeast, the red
corpnscles adhesive and sticky, the fbrn
flamepts, that naturally are very deli
cato and almost invisible under the mi
croscope, become thickened into massive
threads, which aggregate moro or less,
forming skeins, clots or plugs which
catch on the valves of the heart. These
1ibrin filaments sometimes aggregate
into long concretions that run for sew
eral inches, blocking up the blood vessels,
sometimes plugging up the smaller ves-
sells completely. The heart meantime
automatically beats harder to overcome
the obstacle, and if the vessels are weak
they rupture.near the obstruction and
the blood pours out under the skin, if
this is the site of the plug, and makes it
look red almost like a case of scarlet fc-
YER. Again, from the paralyzing infu-
ence of the Intestinal gases, there is, if the
animal lives long enough, a paralysis of
the hind legs more or less complete. The
hog will hunch up it's back and draw the
feet together underneath. In worse
cases 1t will move by its forefeet while
the lnndfeet drag.
Internal organs are subjected to inter-
nal hemorrhage from the same clots
floating in the blood stream. If the ami
NAL lives slonSenough there will be found
in the lungs more or less breaking down
and tubercular deposits due to the vine
gar yeast collecting there from the blood
stream. The appearances 50. much re-
semble those in consumption in man that
hog cholera has been termed a form of
quick consumption,
Itis snot contagious save by contact and
hogs living among the dung of infected
hogs Swine that have been fed on good
sweet corn by the side of and in differ
ent pens from swine fed on distillery
slop, and suffering from hog cholera. have
not taken it-according to DIR. Salisbury.
And swine affected with it have been
cured by giving them good sweet corn i.
If hogs everywhere were fed ON good
sound food hog cholera would be much
less. If the food is cooked thorough
ly the heat will destroy the alcohol
plants and the vinegar plants, which
some call bacilli, and there will be
much less danger of the disease. The
immunity of swine fed on sweet, sound
food, some may say, is due to the re-
sultant health of the animals resisting
the disease. Be this as it may. those who
are troubled with the hog cholera should
feed only good sound sweet corn we'll
steamed, and unless the cases are too far
gone they will find the disease arrested.
Of course the animals should be protect
ed from cold.
So long as swinA and lzine toe. are
fed on swill, aistiliery siop, dungy and
dirty soure'l corn, or swill that is indi-
gestible, with orange or lemon peel,
trouble with the bowels must be expect
ed, more or less severe according to cir
cu1nstances. If those who are interested
doubt these statements it is easy to
prove or disprove them by trials ac-
curately conducted. Feed healthy swine
on distillery slop and nothing else for
three months, having other healthy
swine alongside in adjacent pens fed
with good sweet corn and water, and
then note the reI'.s.-Ephraim Cutter,
NJ. D., LII. D. irAmerican Agricultur-