xx.
APPENDICES.
Hospital Assistant of some year's standing, able to act upon his own initiative and respon-
sibility in the Civil Surgeon's absence, shall be put in charge of the depôt under the Civil
Surgeon as heretofore. In my opinion a Native of India would be the best class of person
for the post, and he should not be required to perform any duties outside his own depôt
office, such as clerical work in the Hospital. It would then be possible for the Civil
Surgeon to proceed on tour at any time without having to keep his attention constantly
turned towards the vaccine depôt for fear that the work should miscarry in his absence.
Under present arrangements I have felt myself unable to go far from headquarters, or
to make a prolonged tour in the district on this account I do not think the work of the
depôt can be increased in the direction of improvements in the quality or quantity of vac-
cine paste prepared and distributed, unless an experienced and reliable subordinate be put
in subordinate charge of the institution. With the present staff I can carry on the work as
heretofore with varying success, but the keeping up of a sufficient supply of vaccine paste
to meet all demands has proved the cause of great anxiety to me throughout the year, and
if the demand is to be increased, I do not think it can be adequately met under present
arrangements.
The special work of the vaccine depôt would be quickly learnt by an intelligent man.
So that in making a selection of a suitable man for the post, no previous training in this
work need be required of him. A still more serious obstacle to the satisfactory carrying
on and expansion of the work of this institution is the difficulty experienced during the
dry season, from February to the end of May, in obtaining calves for vaccination purposes.
This difficulty caused much interference with the work of the depôt in 1899, and again this
year its recurrence has put a stop to the carrying on of the work at Taunggyi.
The calves supplied for use during February and March were thin and in poor condi-
tion, and were procured with great difficulty, and finally at the end of March the butcher
who has hitherto supplied them informed me that he could do so no longer. I have been
unsuccessful in my endeavours to obtain calves through any other agency. The difficulty in
obtaining a plentiful supply of calves here at this season is due to the lack of water, and
consequently of pasturage on this (Taunggyi) plateau. The majority of the cattle are driven
off to lower levels, where better pasturage can be found, and those that remain here are in
wretched condition, and the calves are unfit for use in the vaccine depôt. They fail to de-
velope a satisfactory eruption after being vaccinated, and the vesicles dry up before the lymph
pulp can be collected, and vaccine paste prepared from these vesicles has little potency and
rapidly deteriorates.
I have now made arrangements of a temporary nature for the carrying on of the vaccine
depôt work at Thamakan, the headquarters of the Myelat subdivision. There more calves
and of a better quality than can be obtained at Taunggyi are to be found, and it is easier
to make arrangements for the carrying on of the depôt in connection with the Civil Dispen-
sary there than it would be elsewhere, where there are no other Government institutions.
But even there pasturage is poor in quality and deficient in quantity, and grass has to be
brought from a long distance and at considerable expense. Still the work is being carried
on, and vaccine paste was prepared and distributed from that place at the beginning of the
year now commencing (1900-1901). The arrangement is of the nature of a makeshift, but
without it the work of the depôt would have come to a complete stop. It will thus be seen
that as regards the question of an adequate supply of calves for the work of the depôt, the
institution is still in an experimental stage after three years of working. It must have been
thought when the work was first instituted that a plentiful supply of calves was to be obtained
here at all seasons.
In the annual reports for 1897-98 and 1898-99, as in this year's report, this difficulty
has been exposed and dwelt upon with increasing earnestness. At the end of the period
which this report covers the supply of calves has actually come to an end, and a fresh de-
parture is necessary if the work of the institution is to be carried on during the dry season.
There are valleys in this district where water and pasturage during the dry season are
both plentiful. The nearest of these to headquarters is Myaungwe valley, the distance to
a situation favourable for the working of the vaccine depôt being at least 12 miles from
headquarters at Taunggyi. In Bawnhin valley, 26 miles from Taunggyi, similar favourable
conditions are found, but it has as yet been found impossible to arrange for calves to be
brought from these places to Taunggyi for use at the vaccine depôt. However, it may be
possible in the next hot season to make same arrangement of this sort or to establish the
depôt at one of these places during the dry weather as is now tried at Thamakan.
The lack of potency and rapid deterioration of the vaccine paste which has lately been
prepared at Taunggyi is undoubtedly due to the poor condition of the calves used for its
cultivation; and given a plentiful supply of suitable calves, I believe that any desired
quantity of vaccine paste of ordinary efficiency could be prepared here.
Appendix I—Gives in detail the expenditure on the institution during the year 1899-
1900.
Appendix II—Gives a list of stations to which vaccine paste was distributed, and the
quantities during the year reviewed above.
TAUNGGYI :
C. E. WILLIAMS, CAPT., M.B., B.C , I.M.S.,
The 24th April 1900.
Civil Surgeon.