NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
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containing the vaccine, the caoutchouc cork by which it is closed ought
to be carefully put back into the tube each time after the syringe has
been filled, and only the extremity not directly in contact with the tube
ought to be touched with the fingers. There is another cause of impur-
ity which it is almost impossible to avoid. The outer surface of the
needle, in fact, becomes quickly covered with scraps of wool, hair, or
even of dung; in this way each time that the needle is put into the tube
in order to draw up a fresh quantity of liquid some of these foreign
bodies gets mixed with the liquid and destroys its purity; in consequence
when but little fluid remains, that is to say, when the needle has been
plunged into it ten times, the liquid is almost always impure.
We have endeavoured to obviate these difficulties and we believe we
have succeeded in the syringe constructed under our direction by M.
Colin. With this syringe once filled 50 sheep can be vaccinated in
succession. The vaccine is not in contact with serial impurities, and
cannot be soiled by foreign bodies sticking to the outside of the needle.
It can be easily cleaned.
Strictly speaking a single syringe of this pattern would do for all
vaccinations; but it appears to be preferable to get two syringes, one for
the first, and other for the second inoculation. This syringe has certain
inconveniences; the liquid injected is not seen, and the quantity injected
cannot be regulated with the same precision as when a Pravaz' syringe is
used. The vaccine for this syringe is sent out in tubes identical with
ordinary tubes, except that both extremities are closed by small caout-
chouc corks. The smaller cork is to be withdrawn and the extremity of
the tube introduced into the reservoir of the syringe : on removing the
other cork the liquid runs into the reservoir. In all cases, whatever kind
of syringe be adopted, a tube of vaccine which has once been opened
must never be used on the next or following days, for in that interval the
vaccine liquid may have become altered by foreign organisms. If the
vaccine when sent out cannot be used for three, four, or five days, the
tubes ought to be put in a cool place, if possible in a cellar, in order to
prevent the possible ulterior development of foreign organisms. As a
rule, and whenever it is possible, fresh vaccines ought to be used, and
used on the day or the day after they are received. When it is desired
to keep vaccines for a long time—one, two, or three months—it is
necessary to take special and very delicate precautions. This we do in
the case of all vaccines sent to foreign countries. As to any vaccine
liquid remaining in the tube when the operation is finished it ought to
be destroyed by plunging the tubes into boiling water.
Method of preparing the vaccine in vogue at M. Pasteur's labo-
ratory.—A. drop of blood taken with purity from an animal dead of
anthrax is sown in flasks of sterlized broth, and the flasks placed in an
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incubator kept at 42°-43°C. At the end of twenty-four hours a drop
of culture is taken from one of these flasks and sown into another flask
of pure chicken broth; this latter is placed in an incubator at 30°-
35° C., whilst the original flask is again returned to the incubator at
42°-43° C. This operation is repeated every twenty-four hours, so that
at the end of 15 to 20 days, we have obtained a series of more and more
attenuated cultures. From among the latter day cultures, usually those
of the tenth or twelfth day, a culture is chosen which makes the " pre-
mier vaccin" and another, less attenuated, ordinarily that of the 7th or
8th days makes the "deuxieme" or second " vaccin." The filaments of
these vaccines are cultivated in suitable media, and the resulting spores
placed in glass vessels or tubes sealed by heat, and known as seed tubes.
This process is conducted in the Pasteur institute.
Manner of sowing the vaccines.—The seeds of the first and second
vaccines are sent in tubes closed at both ends. The tubes are opened
by cutting the superior extremity by means of a file or glass knife. The
fluid in the tube is then aspirated with a pipette which has been pre-
viously sterlized by exposure to a temperature of 200° C. This fluid is
sown into three little flasks of chicken broth as accurately divided into
each as possible, and the flasks are then placed in an autoclave maintained
at a temperature of 30°-35°C. After the expiration of three days they
are removed from the autoclave and placed in a cool place at from 5° to
10°C. and shaded from the light. Each of these small flasks serves to
sow large flasks of veal broth for a period of five days, so that the three
are sufficient for fifteen days' seed supply for the large flasks, and
hence, if a continuous supply be desired, it is necessary to repeat the
process of sowing fresh small flasks every twelve days. So that by
the 15th day a fresh supply of material for sowing the large flasks
may be ready. To sow the large flasks from the small ones all that
is necessary is to aspirate five or six drops of the material from the small
flask and place it in the large one, and this is accomplished by means
of a capillary tube. When sown the large flasks are again returned
to the incubator, some of them being allowed to remain for three days
only, whilst the remainder are kept in for a period of ten days. In this
way we obtain two " vaccines," one of which, viz., that kept in the iu-
cubator for three days, is called " recent vaccine," and that kept in for
ten days " ancient vaccine." The "recent vaccine " is more active than
the " ancient," as at the end of three days the development of the fila-
ments is almost complete and few spores are formed. This recent vaccine
it is necessary to use very soon after its manufacture, because the fila-
ments being ærobic perish after a short time in the vaccine tubes, there
being no air in them. The " ancient vaccine," on the contrary, has passed
on to the stage of spore formation and contains more spores than fila-
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ments, and the spores are capable of resisting for a longer period in the
tubes, so that consequently, although the " ancient vaccine " is in reality
more attenuated than the recent, it is capable of preserving its action for
a far longer period of time. When a vaccine has to remain in tubes for a
longer period than two days, we take advantage of the above peculiarities
and mix the " ancient " with the " recent vaccine." It is necessary to do
this, owing to the fact that if the spores only were put in in their thus
attenuated form, the vaccine would be too greatly attenuated and have
lost in some measure its properties. Both the first (premier) and
second (deuxieme) vaccines are treated in the same way. From the
flasks, vaccine tubes are filled by means of pipettes and are ready for
despatch. The vaccines are distinguished by different labels; the vessels
containing the first bear a red label marked " premier vaccin;" those
holding the second blue, marked " deuxieme vaccin." Those containing
" ancient vaccine " are marked with blue pencil on red label for the first,
and with a red pencil on blue label for the second. The secret in the
manufacture thus appears to consist in the manipulation of the " ancient
vaccine."
Proofs of the efficacy of preventive inoculation against
Anthrax.—Preventive inoculation against charbon, according to Pas-
teur's method, has already received during several years complete con-
firmation; its efficacy has been recognized in laboratory experiments
and in experiments conducted upon flocks in various parts of France and
other countries. Some experiments from amongst a large number were
made in 1881-82, which establish the efficacy and the small risk which
attend preventive inoculation.
Experiments made at Pouilly-le-Fort.—Inoculation with the first
and second vaccines at an interval of 12 days, on 24 sheep, 1 goat, and
6 cows; inoculation of non-attenuated virus was carried out 14 days
afterwards on the vaccinated animals, and also as a test experiment
on 24 sheep, 1 goat, and 24 cows non-vaccinated. The inoculation
produced severe symptoms, both local and general, in the four non-vac-
cinated cows, which did not, however, succumb to the disease; there
was no disturbance in the vaccinated animals. The non-inoculated
sheep and goats died, whilst those protected by vaccination showed no
symptoms of the disease. One of the protected sheep died on the fourth
day following inoculation with the strong virus, but the autopsy showed
death from death of the fœtus. Seven months afterwards six vaccinated
sheep were inoculated afresh with strong virus and resisted, whilst four
non-vaccinated sheep inoculated in the same manner died.
Experiments at Fresne.—Ten sheep were vaccinated at two suc-
cessive inoculations after 12 days' interval, and resisted inoculation with
strong virus afterwards; whilst of ten non-vaccinated sheep six died as
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a consequence of inoculation with the strong virus. The vaccination of
1,081 sheep and a number of large ruminants and horses by two success-
sive inoculations were unaccompanied by any serious accident, exception
the death of one sheep after the second inoculation; this might have been
due to spontaneous charbon. The vaccination of ten sheep by a single
inoculation with the virus No. 2 enabled them to resist the inoculation
with strong virus; one non-vaccinated cow was very ill after inoculation
with strong virus; whilst a vaccinated cow supported the inoculation
with no ill effects.
Experiment at Rossignal.—A non-vaccinated horse died of in-
oculation with the strong virus, whilst a filly vaccinated at two successive
inoculations in the ordinary way supported inoculations with a strong
virus with no ill effects.
Experiments at Chartres and Alfort.—Sheep vaccinated are not
affected by the attenuated virus in any serious way; having been
inoculated twice in succession, they resist inoculation with charbonous
blood taken from a sheep dead four hours of spontaneous charbon.
Nineteen sheep, vaccinated at Alfort by M. Pasteur, resisted inoculation
with charbonous blood, whilst of 16 non-vaccinated sheep 15 died after
inoculation with blood, taken from the same charbonous sheep.
Experiments at Arteney.—Vaccination was practised in the farm
of d'Herblay at Arteney near Orleans on large and small ruminants.
Charbon existed amongst the flock and had claimed 69 victims in less
than three months. Two hundred and fifty sheep as well as seven
large ruminants received the first vaccine. In the 14 days which elapsed
between the application of the first and second vaccines spontaneous
charbon had destroyed 8 sheep out of the 250 vaccinated; six days after
the second vaccination 1 out of the 242 sheep which had undergone it
died of charbon; five non-vaccinated sheep were inoculated with strong
virus and died.
Numerous vaccinations were carried out in July, August and
September 1881. The mortality was ten times less in vaccinated than
in non-vaccinated animals and flocks of sheep, in which the vaccinated
and the non-vaccinated animals lived under the same conditions. The
mortality in vaccinated cows was 14 times less than in non-vaccinated
(10 died out of 888 non-vaccinated and 1 only out of 1,254 vaccinated).
In flocks in which charbon was present in a severe form and a portion
only of which had been vaccinated, a mortality of 1 in 20 non-vaccinated
occurred whilst amongst the vaccinated none succumbed.
Experiments at Toulouse.—Nine sheep were protected in three ino-
culations and afterwards resisted strong virus; 2 sheep protected by
one inoculation also resisted strong virus. Of five non-vaccinated sheep
four died and the other was rendered very ill by the inoculation with the
strong virus. The same results were obtained at Lyon.
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Experiments at Nevers.—Two mares, 6 oxen and 10 sheep vaccinated
in the ordinary manner resisted inoculation with the strong virus, whilst
1 mare acting as a control animal died as the result of inoculation with
the strong virus; also 1 out of 4 control oxen and 7 out of 7 control
sheep died; 1 control ox died of septicæmia and 1 sheep from inoculation
with the second vaccine.
Experiments at Mer.—Ten cows and 20 sheep protected by two
successive inoculations and I sheep which had been inoculated with the
second vaccine only, evinced no ill effects from the vaccination. They were
inoculated with strong virus. The cows resisted and seven of the
vaccinated sheep died; 10 non-vaccinated sheep died from the strong
virus and 5 cows used as control animals were rendered very ill. The
death of the 7 vaccinated sheep was due to the fact that the second
vaccination had been carried out with the first vaccine. In a new
experiment made at Mer, 15 sheep were vaccinated with two different
vaccines and afterwards resisted the strong virus, whilst the control
animals, numbering 15, died of charbon after inoculation with the
strong virus.
Experiments at Montpelior.—Six sheep vaccinated in the usual
way resisted the strong virus, whilst five non-vaccinated sheep died.
Experiments at Bordeaux-—Vaccination having been practised
upon 188 sheep and 17 cattle, œdema was observed in the cattle after the
second inoculation; abortion of a cow and death of two vaccinated sheep
occurred; 8 sheep, 1 ram and 1 calf non-vaccinated, having been inoculated
with strong virus, as well as 18 sheep and 2 cows vaccinated, including
the one which had aborted, all the non-vaccinated sheep and the cow,
as well as 1 out of the 18 sheep vaccinated died, whilst slight disturbance
only occurred in the vaccinated cattle.
Experiments at Angouleme.—Twelve vaccinated sheep resisted the
strong virus, whilst 7 control animals succumbed.
Experiments at Clermont Ferrand.—Five vaccinated sheep resist-
ed the strong virus, whilst 2 control animals died; one vaccinated ox
resisted and one control died. Similar favourable results from Pasteur's
method of inoculation were observed at Nimes, Salon, Nogent-Sur-Marne
and in other localities.
Experiments in Austro-Hungary.—In the experiments made by
Thullier at Buda Pesth, the inocuity and efficacy of vaccination were
recognized both as regards sheep and oxen. At Kapuvar 14 vaccinated
oxen resisted inoculation with the strong virus, whilst in 6 control animals
3 died and 3 were rendered very ill : in sheep vaccinated, accidents occur-
red which were due to the impurity of the vaccine, to the weakness and
too great receptivity of the animals, and to the too great activity of the
vaccines.
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Experiments in Germany.—In the experiments made by Thullier
25 sheep and 6 oxen were vaccinated; 3 sheep died from the second
vaccine; the 22 sheep remaining and the 6 oxen resisted inoculation
with the strong virus, whilst 24 out of 25 sheep used as control
animals succumbed, as well as 3 control oxen out of 6, the three others
being seriously ill. A fresh experiment was made with a weaker
vaccine, 128 sheep and 123 lambs having been vaccinated whilst
128 sheep with 123 lambs served as control animals; one sheep died
after the second inoculation; 12 vaccinated sheep and 12 lambs were
inoculated with strong culture virus, or with charbonous blood, and
resisted, with the exception of two lambs which succumbed; 12 control
animals which received inoculation with strong virus all died. After
these experiments having been made in 1882 at Packisch and Bors-
chutz the "Gazette National" of Berlin published new results which
showed that bovines and ovines succumbed in less numbers when
inoculated, on lands where anthrax was prevalent. In the district of
Packisch the mortality from charbon had decreased considerably in oxen
and sheep, thanks to vaccination.
Experiments in Italy.—Perroneito, having inoculated 8 sheep, 3
goats, and 2 oxen at twelve days' interval in the ordinary way, observed
slight fever after the second vaccination; he made a third vaccination
with a little stronger second vaccine twelve days after, and the animals
evinced no disturbance. Six of the vaccinated sheep, 2 goats, and 2 oxen
were then inoculated with strong virus and resisted, whilst of 8 animals
used as control, perished from anthrax and the eighth recovered after
having been very ill; 2 oxen which had not been protected, inoculated
with strong virus, perished from anthrax.
First Experiment at the School of Turin (Bassi).—Three horses,
2 oxen, 1 ram, 5 sheep previously vaccinated were inoculated, together
with 6 sheep, 2 oxen, and 2 horses non-vaccinated; the inoculation was
made with the blood of a sheep which had been dead of charbon for 24
hours, and it caused the death, probably from septicæmia, of all the
non-vaccinated animals but one horse and one ox; it also destroyed 1 horse,
1 goat, and 5 sheep, which had been vaccinated, that is to say, all except-
ing 2 horses and 2 oxen.
Second Experiment at the Turin School (Bassi).—Thirteen sheep,
2 horses, and 3 oxen were vaccinated and then inoculated together
with control animals, 6 sheep, 2 oxen and one horse, with a non-attenuated
Pasteur cultivation,—4 sheep and 2 oxen non-vaccinated. All the vacci-
nated animals resisted, and all the control animals, excepting 1 ox which
was very ill and died. Charbonous blood taken from a sheep two or three
hours before death was inoculated to 600 ovines, 2 bovines, and 1 horse
which had all been vaccinated; and into 4 sheep, 2 oxen, and 2 horses
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non-vaccinated; two vaccinated sheep died, and all the non-vaccinated
animals with the exception of 1 ox.
At the Congress of Geneva in 1882.—Dr. Sormani, member of the
Commission, charged with the surveillance of the vaccinations for charbon
at Milan and President of the Commission which had carried them out
at Pavia, declared that at the commencement, the experiments conducted
in Italy, at Milan, Turin, Bolognia, Pisa and Pavia all had not given
favorable results. In some cases the animals died from the vaccination,
in others the vaccinated animals died of the test inoculation made with
strong virus, This was due to the fact that vaccine prepared for use in
oxen had been employed to vaccinate animals more susceptible. Animals
which had had no fever after the second inoculation had sometimes suc-
cumbed to the inoculation with strong virus, whence the necessity of
inoculating a third time animals not having had fever, or augmenta-
tion of the temperature after the second vaccination; the accidents
which occurred in the vaccinated in the first experiments at the Turin
School did not recur in the experiments made by Perroncito, nor in
those of Sormani of Pavia, nor in experiments on bovines. Dr. Sormani
concludes as follows: "I can then declare that the experiments with
vaccination for charbon have been successful, having had a truly scienti-
fic control, being carried out with the most rigorous precautions, without
blind enthusiasm or pre-conceived, or wrong ideas. Vaccination for charbon
forms one of the greatest glories of scientific France, and of M. Pasteur,
her immortal son."
Experiments in Belgium.—The efficacy of Pasteur's method of
vaccination was recognized at Herve in bovine and ovine animals.
In Switzerland.—M. Guillebeau of Berne recognized the fact that
two preventive inoculations preserved animals against inoculations with
the strong virus when it is inoculated in small quantity, but not when in
large quantity.
In Spain the efficacy of vaccination has been equally recognized. It
is also acknowledged in Holland, Algeria, Russia, England, Australia, etc.
Almost the whole of the experiments made then have from the first
been followed by very encouraging results, despite the fact that strong
virus has been inoculated in order to demonstrate the immunity confer-
red. For sheep resist the ingestion of charbonous germs much better
than their inoculation, doubtless for the reason that by the latter method
larger numbers are introduced, so that vaccinated animals resist natural
contagion better than control inoculations as statistics have clearly
demonstrated.
In 1881, in flocks of which a moiety had been vaccinated and the rest
had not, all the animals living together, the mortality from charbon
amongst the sheep and cattle which had been vaccinated was much less
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than amongst the non-vaccinated. In fact, in certain flocks in which
charbon had been severe, it was observed that the mortality had been nil,
or nearly so in the vaccinated, whilst it had remained high amongst the
non-vaccinated. In 1882 vaccination considerably diminished the
mortality from charbon in flocks and herds. These results were improved
upon during the following years; so that the mortality from charbon
which had been 8 to 10 per cent. amongst sheep in flocks exposed to the
disease, has fallen to 1 per cent. after vaccination; it has equally lowered
the mortality amongst bovines.
Vaccination against charbon in Hungary.—M. Hutyra, of Buda
Pesth, notes that during the year 1890, 939 horses, 9,356 bovines and
78,770 sheep were vaccinated against charbon. The losses from the
operation owing to the ulterior evolution of charbon were—
3 horses or 0.31
36 cattle or 0.37
1,571 sheep or 2.00
per cent.
„
„
From observations made, it appears that neither the race nor age of the
subjects inoculated had any influence upon the termination of the opera-
tion (Journal de med vet and de zoot, January 1892).
Accidents consecutive to vaccination.—At the commencement,
vaccination sometimes gave rise to more or less grave accidents. We
witnessed the appearance of œdema, tumefaction more or less extensive
in oxen and solipeds, following the second inoculation, and cases of death
occurred amongst sheep as well as large ruminants. We found cases in
which bovines which had been inoculated for two or three months only
succumbed to anthrax. It was recognised that the vaccines weakened
gradually with age. The first vaccine became too feeble and did not
always preserve the animal against the second, which destroyed it occa-
sionally. In other cases both the vaccines became so enfeebled that
they did not give immunity from charbon, which carried off animals
even during the first two or three months following vaccination. Since
that time—thanks to a more profound knowledge of the condition of
attenuation and of the mode of preservation of the attenuated virus—we
have succeeded better in avoiding the accidents which occurred at the
commencement. Nevertheless, we must not deny the fact that vacci-
nation is attended with certain risks to animals, which cannot be avoided
completely, for they may be influenced not only by the quality of the
vaccine, but by the susceptibility of individuals, breeds, species, and de-
fects in the operation. The accidents which have been observed should
without being exaggerated be made known to all veterinarians, so that
they may not be led to promise invariably excellent results to persons
seeking to have their animals protected, but may be able to communicate