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copies of the Bengali translation of Colonel Hallen's Manual of Cattle Diseases
in India were supplied to these places for distribution among the cattle-owners.
Veterinary assistance was also supplied to the Presidency and Alipur
Central Jails at the request of the Superintendents.
CONTAGIOUS DISEASE IN THE CALCUTTA GOWKHANAS.
28. A strong effort was made during the year by the Chairman to combat
the contagious diseases which are practically always present among the animals,
and which, through them, are carried all over the city.
I met a Committee at the southern gowkhana and gave advice as to
the reconstruction of stables, and an arrangement was made whereby all
infectious and serious cases, including "mange," were to be sent at once
to the Belgachia Veterinary College for isolation and treatment, as there are no
means of safely isolating cattle in the gowkhanas. The Veterinary Assistant was
directed to pick out all these cases, and an ambulance from the College was
permanently stationed in the southern gowhhana for the transport of the worst
cases. By this arrangement the duties of the Veterinary Assistant, who could
not have dressed and treated all his cases under the old system, became greatly
lightened. It was also arranged that all newly-purchased ponies should be
malleinized and kept separate, so that they, at any rate, should be free from
glanders. The cattle were all inoculated with anti-rinderpest serum. The
Superintendent of the gowkhana was relieved of his duties, and another man
appointed. Unfortunately this officer did not send the cases to Belgachia,
as arranged between the Chairman and myself, and I ascertained that the
newly-purchased and malleinized ponies had been mixed up with the old
stock, which is notoriously infected with glanders. Hence an arrangement
which promised well for the eradication of infectious disease from the gow-
khanas has fallen to pieces. This is a matter for regret, since the animals of
the Municipal gowkhanas constitute, in my opinion, an ever-present danger to
the property of the horse and cattle-owners of Calcutta, and indirectly to
the Army.
EXPERIMENTS AND INVESTIGATIONS.
29. Government has taken so much interest in preventive inoculation,
that it will not be out of place to say a few words about the use of serum in
Bengal from the practical point of view.
Of the two methods of using the serum, one is called the single or plain serum
method, and consists in injecting a certain quantity under the skin. It causes
no discomfort and no reaction, and the animal can be worked immediately
before and immediately after the operation without evil results. The preven-
tive effect takes places at once. The duration of the complete immunity is not
very long, but it generally outlasts an outbreak; when the immunity begins
to weaken, it may yet be sufficient to prevent the death of an animal, though
it may not be sufficient to prevent the attack. The people in Bengal raise
only those objections to its application which conservative and cautious
cattle owners would offer in any country ; and I think, these objections will be
overcome in time, especially, if the number of serious attacks in the inoculated
can be further reduced, as I think they can be with greater knowledge
of dosage, etc.
The double method consists in injecting a calculated quantity of serum
into one side and a small quantity of virulent rinderpest blood into the other.
This inoculation sets up rinderpest in a more or less modified form, the
duration of the immunity it gives rise to being proportional to the virulence of
the reaction. Thus, it is possible to confer an immunity that will last for years.
This method is undoubtedly preferable in the laboratory, and possibly for field
work anywhere else than in Bengal. But there are difficulties and dangers in
the way of its practical use in this Province which demand very serious
consideration:—(1) The extraction and injection of rinderpest blood offends
the caste prejudices of the raiyats, and they would sooner lose their cattle than
have them treated in this way. (2) This system creates fresh points of
contagion because of the difficulty, amounting to impossibility as a rule, of
getting raiyats to isolate their animals. (3) If double inoculation be applied
to an animal incubating the disease, it almost certainly kills him. It is possible
to avoid this drawback by taking the temperature of each animal; but taking