kened so that
the pig has difficulty in walking. The discoloration of the skin may or
may not increase, but the weakness gradually becomes greater so that
death may follow within a day or two from the first attack. Occasionally
the affected pig will continue to live for several days, and eventually
recover so much that it can be fatted, but there exists a great risk of
the recovered pig being what is termed a "carrier" of the disease, and
possessing the ability to infect other pigs with which it may come in
close contact, although the germs of the disease which it carries do not
affect its own health. Similar instances of human beings being
"carriers" of the disease have been recorded. So difficult is it at
times to discover the source of the infection of swine fever that
certain persons who are not amongst the strongest believers in the
practical knowledge of the members of the veterinary profession assert
that swine fever need not necessarily be the result of infection, but
that injudicious feeding or the neglect of sanitary arrangements will
sometimes cause an outbreak. There does not appear to be the slightest
ground for this belief, as there is a specific virus which when it
obtains ingress into the body of the pig, whether by the mouth, nose, or
in any other way, may result in an attack, more or less severe, of swine
fever, unless the virus has become so attenuated that it is unable to
affect the host sufficiently. This attenuation, which is due to causes
which are probably not completely known, is commonly the cause of the
absence of further cases of swine fever amongst one of a lot of pigs
which has had a very mild attack. This variation in the virulence of
most infectious diseases has been noticed and recorded.

At the present time the Board of Agriculture have suspended the
slaughter order in cases where the owner of the pigs desires to
inoculate the in-contact pigs with serum which is supplied from the
Veterinary College. The experiment has not been in operation
sufficiently long enough to express a confident opinion upon its
results, but it is stated that in Denmark the inoculation of the pigs
which have been in contact with diseased pigs has proved to be a
success. The risks of carrying out the experiment are by no means
slight, but appear to be worth running if there be any great probability
of success.

SWINE ERYSIPELAS

The symptoms of this disease, which fortunately is not so common as
swine fever