The following is the order in council referred to by Mr. Gamble:

[Order in council.-At the Government House, at Wellington, this 20th day of August, 1883. Present, his excellency the governor in council.]

In pursuance of the powers and authorities vested in him by the sixtieth section of "the diseased cattle act, 1881," his excellency the governor of the colony of New Zealand, by and with the advice and consent of the executive council of the said colony, doth hereby absolutely prohibit the introduction into the colony of New Zealand from the countries following, that is to say, Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and the islands in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, save and except the Australasian colonies, of all cattle, sheep, horses, swine, and goats, and also of fresh meats, skins, hides, hair, horns, hoofs, offal, or other parts of any such animal, and of all hay, straw, and fodder, and of all fittings which have been used in the transport of any such animal. And, with the like advice and consent, doth declare that this order in council shall come into force from and after the date hereof: Provided that this order in council shall not apply to animals which shall have been shipped from any of the abovementioned countries before the 1st day of December, 1883.

FOSTER GORING, Clerk of the Executive Council.

TOBACCO FOR INTERNAL PARASITES OF HOGS.

The following interesting letter from Dr. W. S. D. Johnson, has been referred to the Department of Agriculture by Hon. W. H. Hatch, to whom it was addressed. Colonel Hatch states that he has tried this infusion of tobacco in an outbreak of disease in his own herd, with very successful results, and that many owners of swine in Missouri have been equally benefited by it.

LA BELLE, Mo., January 26, 1885.

DEAR SIR: You will remember that on the 12th day of May, 1884, you mailed to me a printed circular headed "The Tobacco Remedy," by General T. L. Clingman, the receipt of which I immediately acknowledged, and made a statement that came under my own observation as follows:

"In 1871, I came to this place bringing with me 118 head of hogs. Hog cholera made its appearance among them and they commenced dying, and in the course of six or seven weeks I lost 96 head. At this time I killed 4 on one day and made post mortem examinations very carefully, and found that these animals were dying from the ravages of other animals-animals within."

I then applied the tobacco remedy with success, but I did not give you the history of my observations and efforts to arrest the disease before resorting to the use of tobacco as a remedy, which I will now do, as best I can, after the expiration of thirteen years, although I have never made any pretensions to veterinary science or veterinary medicine.

In 1871, when my hogs commenced dying, I commenced trying to arrest the disease by giving them calomel, protiodide of mercury, black antimony, spirits of turpentine, and arsenious acid, each separately, with corn-meal gruel and in different quantities, with which I persevered for perhaps five or six weeks, during which time I learned that I could neither kill nor cure my sick hogs with these medicines, hence I determined to press an investigation and learn, if possible, what was the true pathology and the etiology of this terrible scourge among the swine of our country.

I then took my rifle-gun and dissecting instruments and went to my pig lot, determined the disease should not kill all my hogs, and I killed one that was not too sick to eat corn. I opened it its entire length, and examined very carefully the lungs, liver, spleen, kidneys, heart, and tonsils, but failed to find any marks of inflammation or byperæmia in either of the above-named organs, but discovered some little injection in some parts of the peritoneal coating of the small bowel, the jejunum and ileum, so I opened the bowel from the pylorus to the cæcum, and to my astonishment, when I had laid this part of the alimentary canal open, the whole secret of the disease was made manifest by seeing worms lying all along the entire course of the bowel, and had these worms been placed end to end there were enough to extend the entire length of the bowel opened.

These worms were of different lengths, varying from 1 to 6 inches or more, white and round, tapering from the middle towards the extremities, but with less taper towards the head, resembling the regular lumbricoides, except the head was yellow or yellowish-red, resembing that of the wood-worm that works under the barks of fallen trees.

The larger and, as I presume, the older of these worms, had commenced eating into the true coats of the bowel, and if let alone will perforate the bowel, after which the ingesta, more or less, will pass into the peritoneal cavity and produce peritonitis; ther death of the hog is inevitable.

The smaller of these worms did not have a colored head; hence I am satisfied they must be just so old before their heads acquire that yellowish color I noticed on the larger ones.

Now, in this connection, I would say I took hold of the worms that had eaten into. the coats of the bowel to pull them loose, but they stuck like a tick and would pull in two, leaving the head end sticking fast in the coats of the bowel.

I am of the opinion these worms are of zymotic origin, and that the zymosis takes place in the hog's alimentary canal, where they subsist on the chyle until they are full grown, at which time they begin to eat the animal substance of the bowel even to the extent of perforation, and hence the fatality of the so-called hog cholera.

The above is a report of the first hog I killed for post mortem examination, and on the same day I killed 3 others, and they were all alike, pathologically, in every particular.

Mr. John Staggs, living near Steffenville, of this county, with whom you are doubtless acquainted, reported to me a few days ago that hog cholera made its appearance in his herd in October last, and the first thing he knew of it he observed one large fat hog had died and another was sick. He opened the dead hog and found the bowels perforated in several places, and the food had passed into the peritoneal cavity, producing peritonitis, of which the hog had died.

He then made strong infusion of tobacco and gave to all the rest of his hogs, including the sick one; the sick hog recovered and none of the rest took sick, and here the disease ceased in his herd.

Having learned by actual observation that my hogs died and were dying of peritonitis, as the result of perforation of the small bowel by worms, and taking into consideration the fact that I had freely used spirits of turpentine and calomel in trying to arrest the disease and had failed, my mind was naturally turned towards a more powerful and effective anti-parasitic or anthelmintic, and by considering the anthelmintics respectively, and taking into consideration that the hog is not very easily poisoned, nicotine, one of the fifteen chemical elements of tobacco and the only one of that plant that is anti-parasitic, suggested itself as the one I might rely upon. I then resolved to give my hogs (after I had lost 96 head in 1871) tobacco infusion; but just at this point I saw an elephant in my path, in the form of a national law threatening to punish any man or men who would sell or give me a pound of tobacco, aud that, too, in free America.

Had it not been for that prohibitory law I certainly would have made public the tobacco remedy for hog cholera years ago, by which, I think, millions of dollars' worth of pork would have been saved to the farmers of our common country, sufficient, perhaps, to have paid our national debt, but necessity being the mother of invention I procured the tobacco without money, without price, and without the knowledge o the man who raised it, and gave it to my hogs, which arrested that fearful malady that had plucked from my herd 96 head.

Doubtless many veterinary surgeons have made post mortem examinations of swine for the purpose of learning the etiology and pathology of the so-called hog cholera, and perhaps the majority of them have failed or neglected to lay the small bowel open its entire length for investigation, while others have not thus failed to examine the small bowel, but have failed to make the needful discovery of the existence of internal parasites, but be this as it may, I have found the internal parasites in every instance on post mortem examination, and in this connection would say I have not known a single instance where the infusion of tobacco failed to arrest the disease in a herd of swine where it was used, nor to cure a sick hog when he was not too sick to drink the infusion. I do not believe much can be done for a hog when you have to coerce him, as nearly all of them will squeal in the operation, and the relum pendulum palati, in the squealing exercise, will allow the fluid to pass into the trachea, and the hogs will die of suffocation or asphyxia, so it is best to not attempt to force a fluid into a hog.

In order to explain how the tobacco infusion destroys the intestinal parasites of hogs, you will remember I stated above that these worms are of zymotic origin, aud that the zymosis takes place in the alimentary canal, where they subsist on the chyle until they grow old and strong enough to do violence to the coats of the bowel, and when we administer the tobacco infusion it becomes mixed with the chyle, and when the worms drink of the chyle they get sufficient of the nicotine to destroy them, while it simply nauseates the hog, and sometimes will even vomit him; but I do not believe it will kill a hog, which makes tobacco an admirable remedy for the so-called hog cholera.

In reference to the older of these worms that have their heads buried in the bowe! by eating and have ceased to drink of the chyle, the tobacco infusion, coming in con

tact with its body, acts on the worm by endosmose, and will destroy him also, so there is no escape for these parasites when the tobacco infusion is administered internally. I would state, in this connection, that nicotine, in its concentrated form, is one of the most deadly poisons known, but the infusion of tobacco, containing all the chemical elements of tobacco, in its action on the animal system, is narcotic, anti-spasmodic, nauseant, sedative, and anodyne, and when applied topically, to a local inflammation, it acts as a local anesthesia, and hence I am induced to believe a tobacco poultice applied to the wound in case of traumatic tetanus (lock-jaw) would be of great service in that dreadful disease of the human subject, which action is by endosmose.

To prepare the infusion of tobacco for hog cholera, take of tobocco leaf 1 pound, place it in a vessel with a weight on it, then pour ou 3 gallons of boiling water, cover the vessel closely, and let it stand until it cools; then take hold of the tobacco leaves and twist them hard to get the liquid out; add 3 gallons of milk or corn-meal gruel (cooked). You now have near 6 gallons of fluid that is ready for use, which you will give to about 30 hogs, and at the expiration of twelve hours repeat the dose, which I think will be sufficient to clear the herd of disease, worms or no worms. Such is the history of the use of tobacco infusion in hog cholera.

In conclusion, and in point of justice to myself, you will please excuse my promiscuous letter-promiscuous as the result of being frequently interrupted by calls and callers while writing, although I hope some good may grow out of some thought it may produce.

Yours, most respectfully,

Hon. W. H. HATCH,

Washington, D. C.

W. S. D. JOHNSON.

While our investigations and those of many others demonstrate that the contagious disease known as swine-plague is not caused by intestinal parasites, it nevertheless remains certain that hogs are very subject to these pests, and that often they exist in such numbers as to make the animals unthrifty, and even to cause fatal disease. Doubtless these parasitic troubles are generally confounded by the farmers with swineplague, as few are able to discriminate between the symptoms of the two forms of disease. The symptoms of swine plague, as a rule, appear much more suddenly; there is a higher fever, more complete loss of appetite, and the deaths occur sooner than happens from the effects of intestinal worms uncomplicated by other diseases. It appears from our post mortem examinations that the cases are very rare where the walls of the intestines are completely pierced by these parasites, and even more rare where the contents of the bowel have escaped through such perforations and set up peritonitis. During the past seven years the writer has been engaged much of his time investigating the diseases of swine, and has made hundreds of careful post mortem examinations, never neglecting to examine thoroughly both the internal and external surface as well as the contents of the intestines. All the parasites found have been examined and their species determined, and although in a great majority of cases several varieties were present we have not seen but one case in which a single worm had pierced the intestinal wall, and made an opening in the peritoneal cavity. In that instance an echinorrynchus gigas had thrust its head through one wall of the bowel, and had attached itself to another fold of intestine which laid against it. There was, however, no escape of fecal matter, and very little inflammation had resulted. We are inclined to the opinion, therefore, that the effects of intestinal parasites in hogs are seen in general unthriftiness, imperfect digestion, and assimilation of food, capricious appetite, wasting, and death as a result of weakness rather than from fever or inflammation. As to the effect of tobacco on genuine swine-plague we are not prepared to give an opinion. Independently of its effect upon parasites it may have a beneficial action on the pathological process of swine-plague. Dr. Johnson has evidently used it in this disease as well as for parasites 12508 A I-30

with apparently good results, and we recommend its trial by our readers whose herds are afflicted with this scourge, and hope they will make report as to its effects.

EXTIRPATION OF CONTAGIOUS PLEURO-PNEUMONIA IN THE NETHER

LANDS.

Hon. Isaac Bell, jr., American Minister at the Hague, in a dispatch to the Secretary of State under date of January 13, 1886, gives the fol lowing information relative to the success of the Dutch Government in its efforts to extirpate the disease of contagious pleuro-pneumonia among the cattle of the Netherlands:

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, The Hague, January 13, 1886. SIR: I have the honor to report that the central committee of the Agricultural Society of Friesland devoted considerable attention during a recent session to the question of contagious pleuro-pneumonia among cattle. It is generally claimed here that this malady has completely disappeared from the Netherlands, with the exception of a few sporadic cases.

The press of the country having given great credit to the minister of the interior, Mr. Heemskerk, for the energy shown by him in the eradication of the disease, I took occasion in a recent informal interview with him to mention the subject.

He informed me that with the exception of a few sporadic cases it was safe to say that the disease known as pleuro-pneumonia was entirely eradicated from the Netherlands, but that the greatest precautions were still exercised to prevent any recurrence of the disease.

The importation of live cattle for food is strictly prohibited, and in cases where the stock is imported for breeding purposes, certificates are required showing not only that the cattle to be imported are in a healthy condition, but also that the place or locality from whence they are intended to be shipped is entirely free from disease; and moreover cattle so imported are subject to a police supervision for three months, and in case of being moved from one town to another are watched to see that no symptom of the disease appears.

This Government has experimented with all known remedies in their efforts to combat the contagion, beginning, as is usual in such cases, with economical remedies. After spending much time and money they have concluded that the only efficacious remedy is the slaughtering of all infected or suspected animals.

For some time the Government experimented with hospitals for the care and treatment of the cattle by inoculation. This experiment appears to have met with fair success in a scientific point of view, but was in the main considered too expensive. and was accordingly abandoned as a Government institution. Since then all infected animals have been killed, and the Government has paid a certain proportion of their value, according to circumstances.

The appropriation voted by the States General last year to combat the contagion was $200,000, but in previous years the amounts granted, during the height of the epidemic, were very much larger.

Notwithstanding the supposed disappearance of the disease from the Netherlands, the central committee above mentioned, it appears, do not deem it wise to rest upon such a result.

From information presented to the committee it appears that the malady still continues in Belgium and the eastern part of Germany. Owing to the constant intercourse between these countries and the Netherlands, the latter is at all times threatened with a return of the contagion notwithstanding the regulations in force against the importation of live stock. The committee have decided, therefore, to petition the King requesting him to favor the conclusion of an international convention with a view to the adoption abroad of analogous measures to those taken in the Netherlands to eradicate the disease when developed.

The recognized seat of the disease in the Netherlands was in the district of Schiedam, to which point cattle have heretofore been brought from other sections of the country to be quickly fattened in close stables on the cheap food supplied by the numerous distilleries found in that vicinity.

All suspected cattle in that district were immediately killed, and the measures were adopted June 9, 1885, there, as elsewhere in the Kingdom, to eradicate the disease. I inclose herewith a copy of the law in Dutch, and an official translation of the same. It having been reported here that the Netherlands Government had addressed to the foreign Governments a note inviting their attention to the means employed in this

country to combat the malady, and requesting them, in the interests of international agriculture, to take efficacious measures to exterminate the disease, I deemed it proper to inquire officially of the foreign office what, if any, measures have been taken by this Government to prevent the reappearance and introduction of the disease from neighboring States.

In reply the minister of foreign affairs, under date of December 19, wrote as follows:

"MR. MINISTER: By your letter of the 26th of November last, you have expressed a desire to obtain official information concerning the measures which the Government of the King has taken to prevent the introduction of the epizootic in the Netherlands. "Having hastened to consult on this subject the minister of the interior, I now have the honor to inclose under cover of this a copy of the royal orders of the 8th December, 1870, and of the 9th April, 1884, prohibiting the importation and transit of cattle, sheep, goats, fresh skins, fresh and salt meat, grease not melted, manure, wool, hair, feet, horns, and waste of animals, as well as live hogs.

"It appears from the communications of the minister of the interior and of the finances inserted in the official journal of March 12 last, of which you will also find a copy herewith, that it is an exception, and only under certain conditions, that the Government of His Majesty accords the suspension of this prohibition.

"My colleague has observed, however, that the satisfactory sanitary state of the cattle in the Netherlands at the present time should be attributed without doubt to the measures which I have referred to, to an energetic vigilance, and to the rigorous maintenance of the law of the 20th July, 1870, in relation to veterinary police, and to the laws and decrees destined to that end.

"The measures prescribed by those regulations consist, principally, in the isolation of the contaminated localities, in branding and inoculating the cattle which are found there, in controlling the cattle through the veterinaries, in assuring the observance of the legal provisions by the merchants of the country, in killing the infected and suspected cattle, and in disinfecting all stable establishments of the said localities by special functionaries.

"I inclose also copy of the laws and decrees concerning these measures, as well as a report of the veterinary police for the year 1884.

"Hoping that this information may prove satisfactory, I seize the occasion to renew, &c.,

"V. KARNEBECK."

The documents mentioned by his excellency are inclosed herewith.
I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant,

Hon. THOMAS F. BAYARD,

ISAAC BELL, JR.

Secretary of State.

STRICT ENFORCEMENT OF THE CONTAGIOUS DISEASES (ANIMALS) ACT OF GREAT BRITAIN.

The following letter from the Hon. Robert E. Drummond to the Secretary of State will explain itself:

LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, London, February 24, 1885. SIR: I have the honor to forward herewith the copy of a letter which I have lately received from Mr. Robert E. Drummond, the secretary of the Foreign Cattle-Trade Association, showing the strictness with which the authorities here have enforced the application of the contagious diseases (animals) act, in the case of recent importations from Hamburg and Bremen, and requesting me to bring this subject again to the attention of my Government.

I also inclose a copy of the suggestions issued by the association.
I have, &c.,

Hon. F. T. FRELINGHUYSEN,

Secretary of State.

J. R. LOWELL.

FOREIGN CATTLE-TRADE ASSOCIATION, 23 Great St. Helens, London, E. C., February 19, 1885. To the Ambassador of the United States of America, 31 Lowndes Square, S. W.: YOUR EXCELLENCY: Should it not have already been brought to your excellency's notice, I take the liberty of informing you that last week there arrived a cargo o about 600 sheep at Deptford, per steamer Virgo, Hamburg, 1 sheep only being found