Letter from the Commissioner of Agriculture to the Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture : communicating information on the subject of pleuro-pneumonia among cattle.

  • Le Duc, William Gates, 1823-1917.
Date:
[1879?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letter from the Commissioner of Agriculture to the Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture : communicating information on the subject of pleuro-pneumonia among cattle. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    maladies grown that stock breeding and rearing has, to some extent, become a preca- rious calling instead of tbe profitable business of former years. Tins w ould seem espe- cially true as it relates to swine. Year by year new diseases, heretofore unknown in our country, make their appearance among this class of farm animals, while older ones become permanently localized and much more fatal in their results. Farmers, as a rule, are neglectful of their stock, and pay but little attention to sporadic cases oi sickness among their flocks and herds. It is only when diseases become general, and consequently of an epidemic and contagious character, that active measures are taken for the relief of the afflicted animals. It is then generally too late, as remedies have ceased to have their usual beneficial effects, and the disease is only stayed when it has no mors victims to prey upon. This interest is too great to be longer neglected by the general government. Not only the health of its citizens, but one of the greatest sources of our wealth, demands that it should furnish the means for a most searching and thorough investigation into the causes of all diseases affecting live stock. At the time this communication was made it was not known that the destructive disease known as contagious or malignant pleuro-pneumonia among cattle was prevalent to any considerable extent in any section ot the country. There may have been, and no doubt were, isolated eases of the disease, but they were not sufficient in number to attract atten- tion or cause alarm. During the past summer and fall my attention was called to the prevalence of the disease in several localities widely sep- arated from each other. Among other letters addressed to me on the subject, I cite the following: J. Elwood Hancock, of Burlington County, New Jersey, writes : The prevailing disease among cattle in this county is pleuro-pneumonia. The dis- ease is very fatal, and the losses among this class of animals from this malady have been very heavy. Mr. J. E. Haneock, of Columbus, Burlington County, New Jersey, states that the disease has been prevalent in that county for some years. He says: I have had some experience with pleuro-pneumonia among cattle, having lost one- third of my herd from its ravages in 18(51, when I succeeded in eradicating the disease after a duration of about six months. I had a second visitation of the malady in my herd in the early part of 18G6, when I lost 6 head from a herd of 23. Of the animals affected I am satisfied that not more than one-third will recover. N. W. Pierson, Alexandria, Va., writes as follows, under date of Oc- tober 12, 1878: The principal disease among cattle in this locality is pleuro-pneumonia. The dis- ease stalled from Georgetown, D. C, two years ago. and has gradually spread down the Potomac for a distance of about 25 miles, extending back from the river not more than 2 miles. E. A. Murrill, Campbell County, Virginia, writes, about the same date: An unknown disease has prevailed this fall among cattle in the immediate vicinity of Lynchburg but has not spread elsew here. [This disease w as pronounced pleuro- pneumonia by competent authority. ] E. L. Eagland, Halifax County, Virginia, writes, that the eattle in that county are affected with a contagious distemper which is supposed to be pleuro-pneumonia. C. Gingrich, Eeistertown, Baltimore County, Maryland, says: Lung fever (pleuro-pneumonia) has prevailed among cattle in the vicinity of Balti- more for the past t welve or fifteen years, and the losses from the same ha ve been quite heavy. A report from William S. Vansant, veterinary surgeon, contained in the report of tbe New Jersey State board of agriculture for 1876, shows that nineteen different herds of cattle suffered from this disease in Bur- lington County of that State during the year above named. It would seem that while the disease has been almost constantly present in New