(22) The inspector shall, in his daily rounds, as far as possible, take the temperature of each animal, commencing with the herds that have been longest in quarantine and ending with the most recent arrivals, and shall record such temperatures on lists kept for the purpose. In passing from one herd to another he shall invariably wash his thermometer and hands in a weak solution (1 to 100) of carbolic acid. (23) In case of the appearance of any disease that is diagnosed to be of a contagious nature the veterinary inspector shall notify the Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry, who shall visit the station personally or send a veterinary inspector, and on the confirmation of the diagnosis the herd shall be disposed of according to the gravity of the affection. (24) The yard and shed in which such disease shall have appeared shall be subject to a thorough disinfection. Litter and fodder shall be burned. Sheds, utensils, and other appliances shall be disinfected as the veterinary inspector may direct. The yards, fence, and manure box shall be freely sprinkled with a strong solution of chloride of lime. The flooring of the shed shall be lifted and the whole shall be left open to the air and unoccupied for three months. (25) In the case of the appearance of any contagious disease the infected herd shall be rigidly confined to its shed, where disinfectants shall be freely used, and the attendants shall be forbidden all intercourse with the attendants in other yards, and with persons outside the quarantine grounds. J. M. RUSK, Secretary. [The designation of the ports, named in the foregoing regulations as quarantine stations, was approved by the Secretary of the Treasury on the 16th day of October, 1890, as provided by section 8 of the act of Congress approved August 30, 1890, providing for inspection of meats and animals.] It is believed that these regulations will not only protect our herds and flocks, but in view of the assurances to that effect received from the British authorities it will probably result in the revocation by the British Government of its regulation excluding American sheep from Great Britain. The inspection and quarantine of all cattle, sheep, and swine imported into the United States will add largely to the work of this Bureau. During the twelve months ending June 30, 1890, cattle were imported to the number of 30,695 head and sheep to the number of 393,794. The figures of the Treasury Department fail to give the number of swine imported. The increased duties levied under the present law may greatly diminish the number of animals imported into this country, although during the year just past 3,935 head of cattle and 16,303 head of sheep were admitted duty free on the ground that they were imported for breeding purposes. INSPECTION OF SALTED MEATS FOR EXPORT. The act of August 30, 1890, provides "that the Secretary of Agriculture may cause to be made a careful inspection of salted pork and bacon intended for exportation, with a view to determining whether the same is wholesome, sound, and fit for human food, whenever the laws, regulations, or orders of the government of any foreign country to which such pork or bacon is to be exported shall require inspection thereof relating to the importation thereof into such country, and also whenever any buyer, seller, or exporter of such meats intended for exportation shall request the inspection thereof. This inspection has been assigned to the Bureau of Animal Industry and all arrangements have been made to carry the law into effect. It is too early at this writing to estimate the quantity of meat that the Department will be called upon to inspect under this law, but should the prohibition now enforced by certain continental. governments be removed so far as regards inspected meats, as there is now reason to hope, there is no doubt but that the amount will be very large. The regulations adopted for this inspection are as follows: Regulations for the Inspection of Salted Pork and Bacon for Export. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, By virtue of the authority conferred upon the Department of Agriculture by section 1 of an act entitled "An act providing for the inspection of meats for exportation, prohibiting the importation of adulterated articles of food or drink, and authorizing the President to make proclamation in certain cases, and for other purposes," approved August 30, 1890, the following regulations for the inspection of salted pork or bacon for export, and the marks, stamps, or other devices for the identification of the same, are hereby prescribed: (1) Whenever any foreign country, by its laws, regulations, or orders, requires the inspection of salted pork or bacon imported into such country from the United States, all packers or exporters desiring to export to said country shall make application to the Secretary of Agriculture for such inspection; also, whenever any buyer, seller, or exporter of such meats intended for exportation shall desire inspection thereof, he shall likewise make application to the Secretary of Agriculture for such inspection. (2) The application must be in writing, and shall give the name of the packer of such meats, and, if the packer be the exporter, the probable amount of such meats to be exported per week or month for which inspection is requested; the name of the country, or countries, to which such meats are to be exported; the place at which inspection is desired and the date for such inspection. The applicant shall likewise agree to abide by these regulations, and to mark his packages as hereinafter provided. (3) Every package containing salted pork or bacon which has been inspected must be branded or stenciled both on the side and on the top by the packer or exporter, as follows: FOR EXPORT. (a) (Here give the name of the packer.) (b) (Here the location and State of the factory where packed.) (c) (Here give the net weight of the salted pork or bacon contained in the package.) (d) (If exported by other than packer, the name of the exporter.) (e) (Name of consignee and point of destination.) The letters and figures in the above brand shall be of the following dimensions: The letters in the words "for export" shall not be less than three-fourths of an inch in length and all he other letters and figures not less than one-half an inch in length. All letters and figures affixed to the top and sides shall be legible and shall be in such proportion and of such color as the meat inspector of the Department of Agriculture may designate. (4) The meat inspector of the Department of Agriculture, having, after inspection, satisfied himself that the articles inspected are wholesome, sound, and fit for human food, shall affix to the top of said package a meat inspection stamp, to be furnished by the Department of Agriculture, said stamps bearing serial numbers, and the inspector will write on said stamp the date of inspection. The stamp must be securely affixed by paste and tacks, in such a way as to be easily read when the package is standing on its bottom. Not less than five tacks shall be driven through each stamp, one at each corner and one in the middle. The stamp having been affixed it must be inmediately canceled. For this purpose the inspector will use a stencil plate of brass or copper, in which will be cut five parallel waved lines long enough to extend beyond each side of the stamp on the wood of the package. At the top of said stencil will be cut the name of the inspector, and at the bottom of said stencil will be cut the district in which inspection is made. The imprinting from this plate must be with blacking or other durable material, over and across the stamp, and in such manner as not to deface the reading matter on the stamp; that is, so as not to daub and make it illegible. The stamp having been affixed and canceled, it must immediately be covered with a coating of transparent varnish or other substance. Orders for stamps must be made by the inspector on the Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry. The inspector having inspected and found wholesome the contents of said package and affixed the stamp thereon, will issue to the packer or exporter a certificate of inspection, reciting the time and place of inspection, the name of the packer, the name of the exporter, and the name of the consignee and country to which exported. He will also place on said certificate the number of the package. One certificate only will be issued for each consignment and must designate the stamp numbers of all the packages contained in said consignment. (5) The inspector will enter in the stub of his stamp book the information given by the packer's brand on the package inspected, and will report daily on blank form (m. i. 1) the number of stamps issued on each date and all the information required by said blank. (6) The certificates of inspection will be furnished by the Department of Agriculture and be issued in serial numbers and in triplicate form. The inspector will deliver one copy of said certificate to the consignor or shipper of such meat inspected, one copy he will attach to the invoice or shipping bill of such meat, and the third copy he will forward to the Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry of the Department of Agriculture for filing therein. He will likewise make a daily report on blank form (m. i. 2) of all certificates issued on that date, and fill out said blank with all the information required thereon. (7) Whenever the inspection of any salted pork or bacon is requested by an exporter or shipper at any other place than where packed, the packages containing such meats are to be opened and closed at the expense of the exporter, and said packages must be branded or stenciled in the same manner and contain the same information as prescribed in the case of inspection for a packer. J. M. RUSK, Secretary. The new duties connected with this inspection of animals and meats, which have been assigned to this Bureau during the last year, will be seen by the above statement to be numerous and responsible. They involve a greatly increased amount of work, but their fulfillment will undoubtedly be of enormous benefit to the country, as they will insure the protection of our live stock from imported diseases and furnish a guaranty to foreign buyers that our meats are wholesome and that our export animals are free from the contamination of any communicable malady. INVESTIGATION OF REPORTED DISEASES. During the year the Bureau has been requested to investigate many cases of diseases supposed to be of a contagious nature, including a considerable number of cases of disease supposed by the owners of the animals to be contagious pleuro-pneumonia or foot-and-mouth disease. Careful investigation in every case showed that these suppositions were incorrect and that the affection was either an ordinary sporadic disease, or that it was tuberculosis or some other equally common disorder. There have been no cases of pleuro-pneumonia found except in a small district on Long Island and an equally small district in New Jersey, which has long been infected, but from which the contagion is now nearly or quite eradicated. There have been several reports of foot-and-mouth disease in the interior of the country from persons who had never seen the European disease known by this name. Investigations have, however, shown in every case that the diagnosis was not justified by the facts, and that the actual disease was of a sporadic nature and not contagious. There has been no real foot-and-mouth disease in the United States since March, 1884, when it was introduced into the Portland quarantine station by cattle from Great Britain, The contagion in this case was disseminated to a small extent outside the quarantine station, but it was immediately recognized and eradicated by prompt measures. With the three months' quarantine to which all bovine animals are subject, and the inspection of all other animals coming into the country, it is next to impossible to introduce foot-and-mouth disease without its being immediately recognized, and it would certainly be impossible for it to reach the interior of the United States without being discovered by the inspectors of the Department of Agriculture. A recent circular issued by the State veterinarian of the State of Missouri, which was headed, "Foot-and-mouth disease," and which gave a somewhat detailed description of the symptoms of a disease which the State veterinarian thought might be the European foot-and-mouth disease, has excited considerable comment abroad and has been considered by some veterinary authorities as a demonstration of the existence of that disease; but careful investigation made by one of the inspectors of the Bureau demonstrated that the disease was not of a contagious nature, and that it had little, if any, resemblance to the foot-and-mouth disease of Europe. There had been no cattle or other animals taken to Missouri which had been imported from any country where foot-and-mouth disease exists, consequently there was no explanation of the appearance of a foreign contagion in that part of the country. Again, but one or two animals in a herd of twenty or thirty were affected, while with foot-andmouth disease not one in a herd of that size would escape. In most cases there was little fever, the sores in the mouth were not of the nature of vesicles, and it is doubtful if any affected animals had any lesions about the feet which were the result of the disease. So small a proportion showed signs of lameness that this probably resulted in those animals from accidental causes. There should be no difficulty in diagnosing at once such a disease as this as distinct from the foot-and-mouth disease of Europe. The foot-and-mouth disease could not originate spontaneously. It must have a point of origin by contagion which would connect the disease with the same malady in some other section of the world; again, footand-mouth disease is extremely contagious, being rapidly and unmistakably transmitted from animal to animal and from herd to herd. It attacks every animal in a herd, and not one animal in one hundred or even in a thousand exposed to the contagion escapes the disease, while the vesicles are prominent and unmistakable both in the mouth and about the feet. The increase in temperature and the fever are too marked to be overlooked. A disease with these characteristics has never existed in the interior of the United States. Rumors of such disease have been frequent, but they are started by people who are ignorant of the character of such diseases and who have had their imaginations excited by reading the accounts of these diseases in other countries. Indeed, the reports are generally made in such a way as to show that the description of the disease is taken from some publication on the subject and not from the disease itself. This is the only possible explanation of the resemblance of the symptoms given in such reports to those observed in the disease suspected, for, when the disease itself is examined, such characters as they mention can not be found. The report of the Bureau inspector, the main points of which were concurred in by the State veterinarian after a careful investigation, should be sufficient to remove any fears of the existence of this dis ease in the United States. Indeed, the r port of the existence of this disease would have attracted little attention had it not been for the great interests at stake and the evident desire of parties in other countries to find a pretext to sustain the restrictions and prohibitions now in force against the introduction of American cattle. These parties have always been ready to give credence to the wildest rumors and to put the worst construction upon any report in regard to disease in this country. The order that all American sheep and swine should be slaughtered on the English docks on account of foot-andmouth disease, which has been enforced for the last ten years, and the unhesitating acceptance of the recent rumors of the same disease are sufficient evidence of the correctness of this statement. The United States Department of Agriculture now has a large and capable force of veterinary inspectors, whose whole time is devoted to the investigation of diseases, and the official reports of this Department are worthy of the same respect and credence as the government reports of any of the countries of Europe. Usually when a government makes an investigation of a rumored disease its report is believed without question. The numerous attempts which have been made to discredit the conclusion of this Department after the investigation of the disease in Missouri, without giving any adequate reason for not accepting it, show that these parties are influenced in regard to American questions by motives which do not apply to the same subjects when affecting other countries. SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATIONS. The original scientific research of the year has been mostly confined to southern or Texas cattle fever and to the infectious diseases of swine. With both very important results have been obtained from the scientific as well as the practical point of view. SOUTHERN OR TEXAS FEVER OF CATTLE. The discovery of a germ in the red corpuscles of the blood in this disease-a germ entirely distinct from bacteria but belonging to the protozoa-was mentioned in the report of last year. This notable discovery was abundantly confirmed by the investigations of the year just past, and an additional point in the problem has been brought to light. It has long been suspected by cattle owners that the appearance of the disease in northern cattle was in some way connected with the ticks distributed by southern cattle. This hypothesis has, however, been generally discredited by scientific men, and indeed the evidence in favor of it was very slight and intangible. It seemed, however, worthy of investigation, and the result has been to obtain indisputable evidence that the disease is produced by ticks from southern cattle. Ticks taken from southern animals and placed upon pastures which could have been infected in no other way, so infected these grounds that susceptible cattle placed upon them contracted the disease in the same length of time and were as seriously affected as were other susceptible cattle placed upon pastures in company with southern cattle. Again, young ticks that were hatched from the eggs of large ticks picked from southern cattle were placed upon susceptible animals and produced the disease. |
