74
Again on the Saharanpur-Mussoorie Dâk line 77 animals died of Surra, at stations in the Mohand
Pass, during the rains of 1894, when the rainfall was in considerable excess of the normal.
In 1895, during the rains which were heavy, Surra caused its ravages in over 200 villages in the
Karnal District, Punjáb. The losses among equines in sixteen villages in the above tahsil, where statis-
tics were forthcoming, were 253 out of 556 kept or 45.50 per cent. During the same period 53 villages
in the Saharanpur District, North-West Provinces, lost 909 out of a total of 1,590 or 57.10 per cent.
Let us now consider the outbreaks which occur annually at the foot of the outer Himalayas at
Kathgodám in the Kumaon Bhabar. At my request meteorological observations were commenced at
this station in 1896, and the following table shows the information we require, but for the past two
years only:—
TABLE XXIII.
Stations.
Naini Tal, elevation 6,350' ...
Kathgodám, elevation 1,630' .
Haldwani, elevation 1,200' ...
Average number of horses ...
Rainfall 1st June to 31st
October in inches.
...
Horses died (of Surra) between the
Brewery and Kathgodám
1890.
123.02
...
100.06
90
40
1891.
81.85
...
65.91
93
10
1892.
63.73
...
56.38
93
5
1893.
126.91
...
83.73
180
2
1894.
105.19
...
92.96
128
63
1895.
85.10
...
69.16
131
8
1896.
63.85
50.71
63.82
101
92
1897.
114.93
108.52
91.86
80
2
In 1896, 19.40 inches of rain fell during the month of June, and at the time that the monsoon
ceased somewhat abruptly in August, 50.31 inches had fallen. Surra broke out amongst the Dâk
animals in July, and 32 succumbed up to the end of August. When I visited the station on the 5th
September, the blood of 24 ponies was found to contain the organism on microscopical examination, and
in 9 animals it was found within the next few days, making 33 in all. Different varieties of flies make
their appearance during the fine intervals of the monsoon, and in the year in question, when the rains
terminated in August, flies invaded the Tonga Road in very large numbers, but no examples of the
glossina morsitans were discovered. As the diseased animals were not destroyed or even isolated, we
have not far to seek for the cause of the terrible mortality amongst the Tonga ponies. In the following
year (1897) the rains only commenced on the 12th July, but continued until the month of October, a
total of 108.52 inches falling. During the last mentioned season, however, immediately a Tonga animal
was reported with fever, it was at once segregated, some miles away from the rest of the ponies, with
the result that only two animals have succumbed to Surra during the season. It would also appear
that the lateness of the setting in of the monsoon, together with the heavy downpour when it set in,
and want of sun light and warmth also contributed, and brought about conditions unfavourable for the
development of. the Trypanosoma and flies in general.
With regard to Surra in other than Tonga ponies, it is no good the Railway Company going to great
trouble and expense in order to provide boiled water, grass from an elevation of 6,000 feet, clean corn,
prohibiting the use of green vegetation during the rainy season, and segregating all their sick animals,
if small private owners of ekka, and riding ponies, etc., are allowed to keep their diseased animals in
sheds or wandering about unattended within a few yards of the Company's stables or are allowed to ply
for hire along the same narrow road. It stands to reason that the myriads of flies which abound and
infest all animals at these seasons, have only to carry the contagium a distance of a few yards from the
diseased to the healthy animals. In order to save expense and trouble the native owners on recognising
that their tats are suffering from a fatal disease, turn them loose to shift for themselves ; consequently
they become a source of danger to every healthy animal in the neighbourhood during life, and a dis-
agreeable stimulus to the olfactory organs of passers-by for a varying period after death.
B—The different ways by which Surra is acquired by animals.
Our knowledge up to the present leads us to suppose that animals (equines, bovines, solipeds and
buffaloes) acquire Surra by the entrance of the Trypanosoma into their systems in one of four ways—
(i) From eating grass and vegetation grown upon land subject to inundation.
(ii) From drinking stagnant water, during certain months of the year.
(iii) From the bite of certain species of flies, probably as carriers of the virus.
(iv) From the ingestion of corn soiled with the excrement of the rat and bandicoot.
The general evidence collected on this subject will be summarised under their respective headings.
(i) The question of grass and water being the carriers of the contagium of Surra is so intimately
associated, that it will be as well to consider these two factors together in their relation to the causation