7
country like India, where religious prejudices are wide spread and difficult to
combat, it is very desirable to ascertain what substitutes for the cow and
buffalo are possible, and how far native feeling may prefer them to the more
usual vaccinifers."
With regard to the use of goat lymph, Dr. James writes :—
Dr. Dyson submitted a report on his experiments on kid* lymph. The results
are not at all encouraging. Only three out of five goats " took " after vaccination, and
two children vaccinated from these were unsuccessful. In 1890 seven people are stated
to have been vaccinated with goat or sheep lymph (see Vaccination Report of that year).
But no details are given, I presume, as the practice was not continued, that these
animals were found to be a failure. I have myself vaccinated, or had vaccinated by an
experienced Vaccinator, no less than ten kids. They all failed. This may be due to
some detail of technique, of which I am ignorant. But in 1893, when staying in Abbott-
abad, I vaccinated a donkey and a kid. Dr. Nelis kindly inspected the cases for me.
As the kid was the only animal that did not take, I came the conclusion that it was not
a very reliable animal to use as a vaccinifer. However, I cannot help appreciating
Surgeon-Major Moris' work in Calcutta. He has several times vaccinated kids success-
fully, though he is unable to vaccinate one kid from another. In my experiments on kids,
I used human, buffalo calf, lanoline and vaseline lymph in turn, and both puncture and
scarification with a scarifier were unsuccessfully tried. The children and buffalo calves,
which were used to prove the efficacy of the lymph, " took " in every case. The results
then seem to me to be far from encouraging.
Difficulty of obtaining
buffalo calves for vaccina-
tion purposes.
25. During the year 862,566 operations were performed with buffalo
lymph out of 923,175, or 93 per cent. But the difficulty
in procuring buffalo calves in almost every district of the
Province has been very great, and in the case of Lahore
the Civil Surgeon had to stop vaccination at one time on this account. This
difficulty, instead of diminishing, has become greater year by year, so much so
that in some places it is practically impossible to obtain calves, and -I.
have known of instances where the owners, after having given the calves
to be operated upon, have afterwards wilfully destroyed the vesicles formed,
so that the lymph should not be used. In fact the matter has become one
of so much importance that, if animal vaccination is to be continued in the
Province, steps must be taken to meet the difficulty which stands in the way.
Remarks on the use of
vaseline paste lymph.
26. Since I became Sanitary Commissioner permanently in 1894,
I have therefore been anxious to introduce preserved
vaccine lymph into this Province (as used in Germany),
regarding which I submitted a report to Government in March 1893, when
I was Civil Surgeon of Siálkot (Appendix C). I have been unable, from the
nature of my duties, to personally carry out the experiments, and as the
Deputy Sanitary Commissioner was engaged on kid and donkey vaccination,
under the orders of Government, during the first year of my incumbency, I
was obliged to let the matter stand over until I received Surgeon-Major
C. Bamber's offer to undertake and supervise the work himself. Having given this
officer all the assistance and advice in my power regarding the technique to be
adopted (as seen by me in Berlin in 1892), and having furnished him with appa-
ratus and tubes for the distribution of the lymph, I also deputed Dr. James to
help him in his experiments. As both these officers have submitted most valu-
able reports, and have tested the efficacy of the vaccine produced in every possible
way, and given detailed accounts of the method in which it is prepared,
I do not propose to do more than briefly review a few points connected
with it. From their reports it will be seen that the method followed is that
practised in Berlin, with the exception of vaseline being used as the vehicle for
the vaccine instead of glycerine. This substance, which is an oily hydro-carbon
obtained from the distillation of petroleum, possesses several advantages over
both lanoline and glycerine, the former being purified wool fat, and the latter
a syrupy principle of oils and fats. As a mineral substance it has therefore
great value in a country like India, where religious prejudices are so strong, for
we can state with perfect truth to all classes that what we are using cannot in any
way touch, or injure their caste or feelings. This is a most important factor, and
* Dr. Dyson's experiments were submitted to Government with this office No. 18/ 693. dated 9th March 1896,
and His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor directed that no further experiments on the kid need be made.