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PART II.-PROVINCIAL REPORT.
III.—CATTLE DISEASE—INVESTIGATION AND PREVENTION.
Professor Koch's
Rinderpest
demonstrations.
800. This important subject has met with much attention during the past
year mainly owing to Professor Koch's deputation to South Africa and the experi-
ments conducted by him in that country with a view of discovering some means
of reducing the ravages by Rinderpest. That scientist visited this country and
kindly consented to demonstrate his method to us. It was, therefore, deemed
advisable to depute as many Officers as possible to meet him, and as it was consi-
dered that such Officers as are in charge of the Veterinary Educational Establish-
ments in this country should be in a position to acquire this knowledge so as to
be able to carry out further experiments and to train the Veterinary Assistants
studying at these institutions, the following Officers were deputed :—
Veterinary
„
„
„
-Captain
„
„
„
W. R. Hagger, Ajmere.
F. Raymond, Bengal.
H. T. Pease, Lahore.
G. H. Evans, Burma.
Veterinary-Lieutenant F. S. H. Baldrey, Bombay.
801. The demonstrations had to be confined to the North-Western Provinces
and Oudh so as to be within convenient reach of the Laboratory situated at
Muktesar in the Naini Tal district.
802. In carrying out any experiments of this kind, great care had to be
exercised not to wound native susceptibilities nor of arousing popular prejudice,
as these might delay for years the successful introduction of any measure of
inoculation.
803. The work done in the districts was therefore confined to the collection
of blood and bile and of specimens of nasal and lachrymal discharges; these were
carefully packed in ice and conveyed with the utmost despatch to the Laboratory.
804. It is interesting to note that Professor Koch having made an autopsy
of the animal from which the blood and bile were collected, expressed his opinion
that the pathological changes found in the intestines were identical with those
found by him in animals dead of Rinderpest in South Africa, and that the Indian
and South African diseases were identical.
805. The experiments were confined to those showing the immunising
effects of bile, which are described as follows :—
Immunity from Rinderpest is conferred upon cattle after the subcutaneous injection of 10 c.cm. of the
bile taken from the gall bladder of an animal which has succumbed to a virulent attack of Rinderpest.
This immunity sets in on the 10th day at latest, and is of such an extent that even four weeks afterwards
40 c.cm. of Rinderpest blood could be injected without any injurious result. I, therefore, conclude that the im-
munity produced in such manner is of an 'active' nature.
Experiments, however, have proved that an injection of less than 10 c.cm. Rinderpest bile is insufficient
to render cattle immune against Rinderpest.
The local result of an injection is merely a hard, somewhat painful, swelling of the size of a man's fist
which sometimes causes lameness for a few days, but gradually disappears in the course of a few weeks, provided
however, that the bile is not in a stage of decomposition, as is not uncommon, when an animal suffers from Rinder-
pest. Under these circumstances, an abscess may form, which, however does not seem to be detrimental to the
process of immunisation.
The protective properties of the bile, will be of inestimable service in infected parts. Nearly every case
of Rinderpest supplies a greater or lesser quantity of vaccine for those animals which are still healthy.
806. In order to obtain bile, virulent blood is required for the inoculation of
cattle, in order that they may pass through the malady and be destroyed on the
proper day of the disease for the collection of bile. If this is delayed until death
takes place, the bile can only be used in those cases in which death takes place on
7th or 8th day at the latest.
807. The material obtained in Tanda produced the disease in two bullocks
at the Laboratory, but gradually lost its power of re-producing Rinderpest, and
finally became so attenuated that it almost failed to produce any symptoms at all.
The reason of this attenuation may have been due to a number of causes, but when