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final conclusion as to the value and practicability of this method in India. With further experience it is
expected that still more powerful serum than the above will be made here.
"Inoculation
in affected villages.—A visit was paid to some affected villages in Bareilly during the
end of April and the beginning of May in order to carry out this method, and although the disease in
most of the villages was found to be on the decline on account of the recent rapid increase in the tempera-
ture, yet one village was found in which, out of 145 animals, 73 had been attacked and 24 had died. Here
the villagers readily assented to inoculation of the healthy cattle and allowed me to take some blood from
one of the diseased animals for the purpose. Twenty-four animals were inoculated in this village in
the course of a morning's work, the dose of serum used was 30 c.c. per 600 lbs. weight, being twice
that which had proved sufficient in the case of plain cattle at Muktesar, so as to be on the safe side and
not to run any risk, in case the animals were more susceptible than the Muktesar ones of developing a
severe attack of the disease. I revisited this village six days later and found that none of the inoculated
animals hud developed any symptoms of the disease, which were evident to the villages, while out of 39
uninoculated, seven had become affected and two had died. On closely examining the inoculated animals, eight
of them were found to have very slight symptoms of the disease and will probably be protected for a very
long time, while the rest should (in accordance with South African experience, which has not yet been
confirmed in India, but which is being tested at Muktesar) be rendered insusceptible for several months
at least. One of the Veterinary Assistants visited this village again two weeks after the inoculations were
carried out, and found that all the inoculated animals were still free from the disease, but one more of
the uninoculated had died of rinderpest and the disease had very nearly died out. As from enquiries
in these villages it appears that any individual one is rarely attacked oftener than once in twenty years,
this degree of immunity should be sufficient to carry them over the present outbreak, and these cattle are
not likely to be attacked again with the disease within their lifetime; this is all that is necessary.
"If this experience is confirmed in future outbreaks, the method here adopted of using a large enough
dose of scrum to prevent the animals being made marked ill, and yet obtaining a sufficient degree of
immunity for all practical purposes, will be of very great value in India, especially as the dose used was only
about 20 c.c. on the average, and the immunity is produced within a very few days. It is worthy of note
that on my revisiting this village I found the people so pleased with the result of the inoculations that
they brought up some more cattle to be done, operated on, showing they were impressed with the value
of the method.
"In another village the disease was found to be on the decline, and only five animals were reported to
have died of it. In one herd of seven animals, however, two were found to be affected, and with the consent
of their owner the five healthy ones were inoculated. When the village was revisited about a week later,
none of these inoculated animals had been attacked by the affection, and they also should be protected by
this time. As they were exposed to infection the whole time from the two diseased animals which
remained with them, it is probable that some at least of them were saved from the disease by the inoculation.
"In addition to the above, two animals which were in the early stages of the disease were inoculated
with a considerable dose of the serum as a curative measure, and both recovered, the owners saying that
the improvement set in one day after the dose in one animal and two days after in the other. This
curative serum treatment will be more fully tested shortly when a larger quantity of the fluid is available,
but it must be remembered that it is only of service in the early stages of the disease, and as with the same
dose that is required for the treatment of one case in this way, some ten animals may be protected by the
simultaneous method of inoculation, there is a very definite limit to the use of the serum in this way owing
to the great difficulty in making it on a sufficiently considerable scale for extensive use in such large
doses.
"Conclusion.—It
will be seen from the above notes that considerable progress has been made in testing
the various methods of inoculation against rinderpest, and although a good deal of work remains to be
done on the subject, the experiments promise to lead to the adoption of a practical method of diminishing
very materially the great mortality from rinderpest in this country, when once a final decision is come
to and a sufficient organisation is obtained to put into practice the invaluable methods for which we are
indebted to South African workers."