Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-01-09

the disease ezu be easily seen like so
many minute beer barrels. and the N.Y.
celium on which they have grown can
also be found on closer examination.
The disease is not contagious, but is
contracted III summer by animals
which are exposed to night air, espe-
cially while mist rises from the ground.
or which are permitted TO consume
food wet with dew or the exhalations
of the night. The summer sun renders
il harmless by day, and the advent of
frost banishes il during the winter
months.
At least two varieties of the disease
are known-the common form. the Boer
''paardziekte.'' in which the lungs are
most seriously affected, owing no doubt
TO the disease having been contracted
by breathing. and 'dikkopZiekte." in
which swelling of the head and neck
or of the tongue forms the most prom
inent symptom. In both varieties the
incubation period between the time the
organisms gain access 10 the system
and the first sudden rise of tempera-
ture is about eight days: but. while the
former usually terminates fatally in
about - days from the onset of the in
itial rigor, death in the latter is gener
ally delayed for a few days more. In
the common form of horse sickness
death occurs very suddenly after the
temperature has risen to about loo de-
grees +. The animal feeds freely till
within a few minutes of death, and
when the crisis occurs il is simply
drowned in an exudation of its own
blood serum into the air passages.
These become gorged with n dense
white froth. which does not collapse
on a portion Of 1t. like soap bubbles
being blown from the mouth and
nostrils in the death struggle. Both
forms of the disease can be induced in
healthy horses by VenouS incubation.
and another form locally situated in
the abdomen has been produced by in
gestion through mixing the blood of 4
diseased horse with the animals food.
Numerous experiments by the direct
or of the archaeological institute at
Grahamstown have shown that no
material can be obtained from the
bodies of animals which have died of
the malady that can be used in practice
TO produce immunity in healthy ami
mails" The use OF serum from animals
has also proved abortive. A measure
OF success has, however, attended the
incubation of horses with infected don
keys blood and with attenuated virus
got by transmission of a virulent virus
through partial immune animals. By
these means a mild form of the disease
is produced \ period of at least 30
days is allowed to elapse, during which
secondary attacks of fever and mod
erately high temperatures occur ut fire.
Quent intervals. BY repeated mild at
tacks the system is fortified against
subsequent incubation more effective
ly than by a high temperature. The
secondary fever which occurs to a
horse after recovery from a natural at
tack is termed by the Dutch amman
ming" and until the first of these re-
turns has passed off the animal is not
fully protected or ''salted."
incubation in any form is conse
quently out of the question in connec-
ton with the preservation of the ami
mails engaged in the present campaign,
and facilities for keeping them under
cover during night are not available.
but we doubt not the army veterinary
department is alive TO the other means
which experience has shown are use
full as measures of prevention. These
are ca the daily administration of
small doses of arsenic and sulphur in
the food. measure which has proved
most efficacious among police horses
which have to he out on duty at night:
Ol the penning closely together of
horses within n bush fence. preferably
i'll sheep or cattle "kraal." where the
accumulation Of manure tends to ele-
vate the temperature of the floor of
the Enclosure and TO prevent mist ris-
ing close to them, and (c) the provision
of nose bags to act as air filters through
which the animals breathe
An Interesting Experiment..