BOMBAY PRESIDENCY.
35
in connection with calf inoculation had been introduced by me long before the
appearance of the pamphlet. The introduction of steel handled scalpels here
is, however, due to Surgeon-Major Barclay's book; they are handy and cap-
able of being kept thoroughly clean; and I hope they will before long be in
general use, replacing the present wood-handled scalpels. The use of scrap-
ings of the solid parts of the vesicles in the preparation of preserved lymph
adopted in Germany and recommended by Surgeon-Major Barclay on econo-
mical grounds is, I think, unsuitable and ill-adapted to the conditions of this
country, not only on account of the rapidity with which decomposition sets in
here in organic tissues, but also on account of the prejudices it will create against
animal vaccination. Further, the inoculated calves being returned to the con-
tractor in this country, and not slaughtered as in Germany, the opportunity for
ascertaining the condition of their health is totally wanting here. The proper
preservation of lymph and its successful use in the field of operation is destined,
however, to mark an important epoch in the annals of vaccination in this
country, for when it becomes an accomplished fact, the chief objection to the
spread of animal vaccination here will have been overcome ; for looking at the
figures given in the above pamphlet it must be conceded that, despite the un¬
suitability of some of the German processes to this country, the expenditure on
animal vaccination, as at present carried on here, can be so materially reduced
as to make it acceptable to mofussil Municipalities and Local Boards."
*In G. R. in the General
Department, No. 3133, dated
6th August 1889.
100. The. following remarks are meant as a warning against discontinuing
the practice of arm-to-arm vaccination, especially in the outlying villages of
districts in this country. In his report, circulated for guidance and information*
by the Government of India, Dr. Barclay describes
the system of carrying out animal vaccination prac-
tised in London, Brussels and Germany, but which
from his account is a system in which both humanized
and animal vaccine lymph are conjointly used.
That " animal vaccination" does not exclude the use of human lymph is
clear from more than one remark throughout the report, e.g. " with regard to
the lymph to be inserted (in the calf) it is no doubt best to use human lymph,
for experience in Germany has shown that calf-lymph after the second to the
fourth generation certainly degenerates." Again, at page 10 : "I will explain
the most important rules in force in Germany with regard to the collection of
human lymph, as a supply of this is essentially necessary for the proper cultiva-
tion of animal lymph." Read in the light of these statements, the directions
given in the second paragraph of the letter from the Secretary to the Government
of India are not altogether clear.
The Sanitary Commissioner is urged to arrange for the provision with " as
little delay as possible of such a supply of animal lymph as will enable pro-
vincial vaccine establishments to dispense with lymph obtained from the
human subject." Yet it is laid down in the report furnished for guidance that
a supply of human lymph is " essentially necessary " for the proper cultivation
of animal lymph. It is probably intended that human lymph shall be used for
the inoculation of calves and not for the vaccination of human beings. Even
in this restricted sense, it will be necessary to obtain lymph from a considerable
number of human beings for the purpose of keeping up animal vaccination.
101. It may here be remarked that the process of passing human lymph
through an animal is not strictly speaking " animal vaccination " but retro-
vaccination. This has been repeatedly practised, and the process is simple, but
the results possess no recognizable superiority or advantage whatever over
ordinary humanized vaccine lymph. There is no novelty in the system, and it
lacks the simplicity of the arm-to-arm system in force in Great Britain and India.
By carrying out animal vaccination at the head-quarters of Deputy Sanitary
Commissioners and the larger municipal towns, the wishes of the Government
of India, as expressed in paragraph 2 of their letter, could to a certain extent be
given effect to.
Dispensing with human lymph would involve an expenditure out of all
proportion to the benefit, if any, that would result from the complete substitu¬