554 TEXAN FEVER.—SULPHUR FIRES IN CHOLERA EPIDEMICS.

results are brought under their notice at some one else’s

expense. For this reason we trust that associations similarto that above referred to will be multiplied and worked withrigorous economy yet generous treatment. The allotmentof " broad acres" into small farms is preferable to the systemof extensive "runs," both for the prevention and arrest ofdiseases that decimate our herds and flocks. This holds

good alike as concerns serious epidemic disorders and certaindiseases dependent on accident, overcrowding, or the spreadand development of entozoa. "Sturdy," or "the gid" insheep-e,g., which is due to the presence in the brain ofccenurus cerebralis, the larval or hydatid form of tæniacœnurus of the dog, is not nearly so common in enclosedpastures as in unenclosed, where the sheep are herded bydogs. There are many other considerations which mightbe urged in favour of a more enlightened system of dairyfarming than at present obtains, but enough has beenwritten to justify the attempts that are here and therebeing made to make us at least equal in this matter to ourContinental neighbours.

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"TEXAN FEVER."

THE stipendiary magistrate at the Birkenhead Police (

Court had before him on Sept. 17th a very important case e

for decision. The meat inspector for the Corporation applied 1

for an order to destroy the carcase of an animal belonging to 1Messrs. Nelson, cattle importers, which animal, it was

alleged, had died from the effects of a disease known as a"Texan fever." The 117th Section of the Public Health iAct of 1875 states that if a magistrate is convinced that the (

meat is diseased he shall condemn it, even if he is not i

certain that it is unfit for human food. The meat inspector (

deposed that the carcase of the beast recently killed was deeply bile-stained and was of a dirty yellow colour, lthat in the fourth compartment of the stomach (abomasum) i

were a number of erosions and ulcers, that the spleen, which ’was congested, weighed 9 lb., the normal weight being about 21b. (Armatage gives 2 to 3 lb.) The liver weighed 24½ lb., whereas it should only have weighed about 15 lb. ’

The kidneys weighed n lb. more than normal. He 1was of opinion that the disease was " Texan fever," which he said was the twin sister of splenic fever. i

Mr. Moore, V.S., Privy Council Inspector of Cattle,corroborated the inspector’s evidence as to the nature of thecomplaint the animal suffered from. He stated that "Texan fever" was conveyed from animal to animal by direct con-tagion, and that it took from ten to forty-two days for itsfull development. Drs. Vacher, Braidwood, and Craigmilegave similar testimony. For the defence, Mr. Wylde,Chief Inspector of Meat for the City of London; Mr.Holman, V. S., Inspector for the Privy Council at Deptford ;Drs. Imlach and Paul, of Liverpool; Professor Williams, ofthe New Veterinary College, Edinburgh; and InspectorLuyd, of Liverpool, were called. The magistrate, puzzled,as well he might be, by the contradictory nature of theevidence, decided the case on the grounds that from his owninspection he could not say the meat was unfit for humanfood ; therefore he could not say it was diseased, and conse.quently he refused to condemn it. The logic of this argu-ment is a little confused, as it seems to us, yet under thecircumstances we cannot impugn the magistrate’s decision.Whether there is such a disease as " Texan fever " or not,and whether the animal in question died from it or not, wehold that a very strong case was made out by the applicants.It is not usual for " coarse feeding " nor a sea voyage tocause ulceration of the stomach and enlargement of theliver and spleen to the extent described in this instance. Amuch wider issue was involved than the mere condemnationof a carcase of beef. If "Texan fever" is a blooddisease at all resembling splenic fever, the most rigorous

measures ought to be adopted to prevent its diffusion. It isbut just to add, that out of 540 animals carried by the samevessel, only one was affected in the manner described. Inthe event of a like case occurring in the future, we hopethat it will receive a full and impartial scientific investiga.tion, so that this vexed question concerning a disputeddisease may be finally set at rest.

SUCCESSFUL NEPHRECTOMY FOR CALCULOUSPYELITIS.

La Gazzetta degli Ospitali (Aug. 31st) contains a reportby Dr. A. Salomoni of a case in which Professor E. Bottinisuccessfully removed the kidney. The operation was per-formed at Milan, on the 8thofJ une last. Thepatient.AnnMeM-, aged twenty-seven, had had two calculi removed bylateral lithotomy fifteen years previously. Three years afterthat operation an abscess formed in the right iliac fossa. It

opened spontaneously, and after a few months reappearedin the lumbar region, when it was opened with causticpotass. A permanent fistula resulted, and proved intractableto all local and constitutional treatment. The patient lyingon the left side, under chloroform, Professor Bottini, understrict antiseptic precautions, made a vertical incision throughthe whole ilio-costal space, three inches outside the quadra-tus lumborum. The kidney having been isolated, the renalartery was secured in one ligature, the vein and ureter inanother. The space having been well cleared and all bleed-ing stopped, a drainage-tube, about one-third of an inch ndiameter, was introduced. The walls of the fistula wereexcised, and the wound united by one deep metallic suture aneight superficial silk ones. The operation lasted a little ov:ran hour. The antiseptic dressing was renewed daily, them. al-lic suture was removed on the third, and the silk ones o thefourth day, when the drainage-tube was shortened. It waswithdrawn on the eighteenth day. Progress was uninter-rupted. The highest temperature, 37.8° C, was reached thesecond day; urine in normal quantity and without depositwas passed without pain or trouble. The patient left hisbed on the sixth, and went home the eighteenth day, whenonly a slight sinus remained, about an inch deep. The ex-

tirpated kidney weighed forty-eight grammes, and measuredvertically six ce ntimetrea, four across, and two antero.

posteriorly. Its co nsistence was greater than normal; colourgreyish. On section the upper three-fourths consisted offibro-cellular tissue, the lower fourth of renal parenchyma,altered, with the pyramids in process of disappearance. Thefistula led into the pelvis of the kidney, which was dilated,with thickened and suppurating walls, and contained, be.sides some uric-acid sand, two small calculi about the sizeand shape of grains of barley.

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SULPHUR FIRES IN CHOLERA EPIDEMICS.

IN the autumn of 1872, when sanitary officer at the

Sonepore Fair and during the height of the pilgrimage,when the people thronged in thousands to the bathingghats, Deputy Surgeon-General Tuson first used sulphurfires as a prophylactic measure against cholera. These fireswere made at fifty yards apart and kept alight during thewhole time that the fair was at its height. Not a singlecase of cholera occurred; a remarkable circumstance, sincecholera had generally broken out at previous fairs. Asimilar good result was obtained at Dinapore, where cholerawas actually prevailing. In the pamphlet on this subject,which is published by W. H. Allen and Co., Waterloo-

place, Dr. Tuson has adduced certain facts and argumentsin support of the contention that sulphur fires are eiji.eacious in epidemics of cholera. The basis of his expla.nation of their efficacy is the germ theory of the disease.