"BLINDED BY SCIENCE"

Waipa Post, Volume 48, Issue 3483, 23 June 1934, Page 2

"BLINDED BY SCIENCE"

DISEASE AMONG PIGS "CLEAR AS MUD" At a recent meeting of the Matamata Farmers' Union a speaker hazarded the opinion that the Department of Agriculture did not know the nature of the disease which was causing pigs to die. There is, therefore, a touch of humour about a reply received from the department a few days ago, and dated May Bth, which would either belie or confirm this statement, according to viewpoint of the farmer reading it.

The letter was sent to an Okauia farmer, and according to another farmer it is as "clear as mud" that the recipient has been "blinded by science." The letter was as follows: "Further report from Wallaceville regarding cultural work on specimens from pigs was received. It does not carry us much further. In a great deal of the material two organisma, Pastem-ella and B. Snipestifer, were obtained. Pasteurella predominated in all living tissue, but in other tissues, notably joint and pericadium, Snipestifer was prevalent. Agglutination reactions for C. Snipestifer were negative, suggesting that in this case Pastuerella was the pathogen (harmful agent), the Snipestifer not causing bodily reaction.

"I understand from Mr MacDonald that two of the pigs which did not receive the serum have died. This suggests that the serum may have some protective action, but the experiment was on too small a scale for us to rely too much on results.

"The material mentioned above was, as you know, largely lung tissue, etc., from the pigs killed at Horotiu."