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This of course is an exceptional case, but in the majority of places where animal
vaccination is used the difficulty is to get calves for the purpose, as very few zamíndárs
will willingly give their animals, and these have generally to be got through the influence
of the village lambardár or Tahsíldárs of districts from the poorest of the villagers on
payment. Whether the animal be healthy or not is a matter of indifference, and the
Vaccinator who operates is not anxious to raise objections so long as he obtains a calf
for the purpose. Then the calf after being vaccinated remains in a filthy shed until the
lymph is ready, possibly at a time when cattle disease may be prevailing, and on this
account a very strong objection is raised by the people, who say that we are propagating
disease from the animal to man.
Lastly, it will be noticed by many who have had experience of animal vaccination
in this country that it is nearly always the bull calf that is given for vaccination purposes.
This arises chiefly from a curious idea that has got about among the zamíndárs that if
the cow-calf be vaccinated she will never become pregnant.
To many persons these ideas of the natives may seem fanciful, but although many
of them have no foundation in fact and others purely sentimental, if such a term may be
used, still it is necessary to consider them and see how far the objections are real and
how they may be overcome. With regard to the arm-to-arm system, there can be no doubt
that their objections are often well founded, and that frequently children have been exposed
and fatigued by Vaccinators, whose chief object was to multiply cases and swell their
record of results ; that the lymph falling on an abraded surface will produce a vesicle in
such sports, is also true, but that the child frequently becomes ill and sometimes dies is
not an ascertained fact, so far as my experience and observation extends ; doubtless the
symptomatic fever is at times severe and the child suffers considerably, but this is more
a matter of constitution and personal idiosyncrasy than any fault of the lymph or the
Vaccinator; that these vesicles do at times turn into nlcers is a matter of frequent obser-
vation, but this occurs just as readily with animal lymph, and depends almost altogether
on the state of health in which the child is when vaccinated, and if due care be exercised
in examining the child before operating such accidents should be very rare.
The transmission of disease from one child to another is a hotly debated question,
but that syphilis and possibly other diseases have been accidently introduced in this way
in some cases cannot be denied ; and to any one acquainted with bacteriology it is perfectly
clear that this can easily be done, not only from one human being to another by means
of a drop of infected blood, but also from animals to human beings in exactly the same
way; hence the absolute necessity exists for seeing that the lymph used is perfectly pure
and free from blood, and that the animal, as well as the child, used as vaccinifer is per-
fectly healthy. This possibility of transmitting disease constitutes the strong argument
advanced by those who advocate the abolition of vaccination altogether; but against this
is the fact that it rarely occurs, and if proper care be exercised ought never to happen.
But herein lies the weak point of our animal lymph operations in India, for this reason that
any calf that can be obtained is taken and used as the vehicle for raising the lymph.
The Vaccinators who work in the districts are not salútris. They take any animal they
can get, without knowing if it is free from disease. This is not their fault, as they are not
supposed to know anything of Veterinary medicine, but it shows that the native objection
is founded on reason, and this objection should, if possible, be removed.
Again, the fact that the calf remains in a dirty shed after vaccination in many places
is a very reasonable and serious objection, for the animal should be looked after and kept
as clean and healthy as a child would be by its parents under similar circumstances, a
point which, I fear, is very rarely considered or thought worthy of attention.
With regard to the very curious prejudice existing against the use of heifers for
vaccination purposes on the ground that they remain sterile, it is difficult to eradicate
such an impression, although it is utterly groundless, and might equally apply to the
human species, which, we know, is not the case, and in Europe, where female calves are
selected by preference, such has never been observed ; but this objection need not be
seriously considered, being mentioned here merely as one of the ideas in existence on the
subject of animal vaccination.
Having now briefly reviewed the disease as it occurs naturally and by inoculation
and considered the objections raised by natives to the operation of vaccination and shown
how far they are reasonable, I propose to bring to notice the methods at present in use in
Germany, where I have very recently had the most favourable opportunities of seeing and
studying the practice in force in that country, as I believe that if the German system was
introduced, it would tend to reduce opposition to vaccination and vastly facilitate its per-
formance, doing away to a great extent with all the objections I have noted.
The institute for vaccination at Berlin is situated at Vien-hof outside the town at
a distance of several miles, this being the central depôt for vaccination lymph for the
whole city, vaccination being compulsory under severe penalties.