The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1908-08-20

Ames will be he & for through their
sacrifice the g = tion of the other
dwellers in pS n will be assured.
Incidentally the cost of producing the
pork that will enter into next years
supply of meat and meat food products
will be reduced by about $4,000, 900.
Were there no meat trusts to keep up
prices, the possible benefit would be
distributed among all the people of
the United States.
From the bleeding tails of the pigs
collected at Ames will be produced
the serum needed to immunize other
pigs from the attacks Of hog cholera.
There is no way of getting that blood
so easily as from the tail. In fact,
that is the only way it can be done
except by taking the life of the pork
er in the veins of which run the i'm
mune blood.
Until a short time ago the loss
caused by hog cholera was computed
as a part of the cost of producing
pork. DR.. M. Dorset, one of the scien-
lists of the Bureau of Animal Indus
try has and deserves the credit for
discovering the virus by means of
which the ravages of hog cholera may
be greatly reduced. The method of
obtaining it is the result Of seven
years work Before it's discovery the
animals lost by this disease amounted
to at least $15,OOO,OOO.
When the discovery was made Sec
retary Wilson, pursuing the policy
laid down by him several years ago,
had a patent issued to DR.. Dorset,
in his name, but with right to free
use by the people of the United States.
The people of other countries desir-
ing to- make or sell the hog cholera
virus according to the Dorset method,
must pay the young scientist any roy
atty he may demand. 1t is so easy to
steal his method that, though millions
may be saved by reason of it's inven-
ton, he is not getting into the sinful
ly rich class with any degree of ce-
lerity.
The bug that causes hog cholera is
so minute that it has never been
caught either under a microscope or
a microscopic filter. There is par
asite that bears the name, bacillus
cholerae suis, but it is not the hog
cholera bacillus, as supposed at the
time it was discovered, roped and tied.
Dorset found that swine contracted
cholera without the presence of that
parasite. He found, also, that it could
be injected in a perfectly healthy an
imal and not cause the disease to- ap-
pear. But he could not catch the one
that did the damage.
Notwithstanding his failure as a
hunter, he found that by injecting
the serum made from the blood of a
hog that had survived an attack of
the disease, an animal was rendered
immune. He also found that by in
jecting the blood of an infected pig
on one side and the serum on the
other, the period of immunity was
greatly legthened.
Vaccination with this virus does
not produce absolute immunity, but
the percentage is so high that it
comes nearly being perfect. The es-
Inmates of immunity is 81 per cent.
Among hogs not immunized the death
rate from the disease is about Is per
cent of every drove exposed to infec-
ton.
After the discovery of the serum
the great question was how it could
be procured at small enough cost
to warrant it's general use. During
the experiments it was right to- sac
rifice a whole animal. But after the
experimental stage was passed it was
obvious that it would make the rene
ly almost as expensive as the disease.
Until the tail wps thought of the
problem of how to get the blood of
an immune looked as great as the
original question. The vital organs
and arteries of the hog lie deep. To
cut down to them means death to the
animal.
The tail was tried as last resort.
Nobody thought of it at first, for the
reason that as a rule there are few