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Nitrate of Potash is extremely soluble in water, and also that it has a special
action on the kidneys, viz., that of stimulation of the secretionary power so that
the solution is. rapidly eliminated through the urinary system.
Bill or Vill.
730. In nearly all the country through which I toured and which was
lowlying and subject to inundations, a disease called Bill or Vill was said to
be very prevalent. It was said to be caused by cattle eating a species of spider
which forms cobwebs on the grass in the morning. The affected animal is
said to be unable to move for three days, and continues lying down. It then
rises, and seems to make a speedy recovery. The native treatment usually
adopted is a mixture of mango pickle, onions, and Ak or Madar leaves. Many
animals are reported to have suffered at the commencement of the rainy
season. This disease would seem to be neither more nor less than colic, due to
the engorgement of the rumen or large stomach with newly grown grass.
When the grass first springs up after the first rains, the cattle, which have
previously been starved, eat of it most ravenously, with the certain after
results of colicky pains. The zemindars say that very few animals die of the
disease, as they style it, and that the usual duration of the attack is about three
days. The treatment adopted seems to be effectual. As several animals are
usually affected at the same time, the disease is considered by the zemindars
to be of a contagious nature, but, from the symptoms given, it will be readily
recognised as a very ordinary ailment.
Tick Plague or
Texas Fever.
731. The Inspector General, Civil Veterinary Department, remarks as
follows:—This country was threatened with an invasion of this disease from
Queensland where the disease is rife. A cargo of horses was shipped to India
and were landed at Madras, and were then taken to Bombay from that Port
by rail. They were all North Queensland horses, and were shipped from
Townsville, which is within the affected area. The disease is declared by the
Colonial Authorities to be a disease within the meaning of the Stocks Act,
and the movement of stock to unaffected districts is strictly prohibited. I
therefore drew the attention of the Bombay Government, and solicited their
assistance to mitigate the evils which might arise from these horses having
been allowed to land at Madras, and by their having been brought to Bombay.
I further recommended that immediate notice should be given to the Great
Indian Peninsula Railway to the effect that they had carried suspected animals,
and that they should thoroughly disinfect all the waggons used in the transit
of these horses. I also asked that if Madras Railway waggons were used in
their transit, that Company should also be made acquainted with the fact. In
reply to my letter, the Bombay Government informed me that, at the request
of the importer, Veterinary Major Mills examined the horses in consultation
with Mr. Rogers, M. R. C. V. S., of Messrs. Scott and Co., to whom the horses
were consigned, and that they had failed to find any ticks upon them. This
I consider very unsatisfactory, as it is well known that Ticks in the larval
stage can scarcely be detected with the naked eye, and further, it is the more
unsatisfactory, as when I saw the horses in question in Bombay, there was
evidence of tick marks on many of them, and fully developed ticks were shown
to me in Madras that had been removed from this shipment of horses.
732. In forwarding to the Government of India a copy of the letter
which I addressed to the Government of Bombay, I asked that the Legislative
Department might be requested to favour us with their opinion whether any
law exists under which animals proceeding to India from countries where a
disease, which has been declared to be contagious, exists, can be prevented from
landing, or can be made to undergo quarantine. I further recommended that
if this could not be done under existing Regulations, steps should be taken to
empower Local Governments to take action in the matter.
I further felt that we were very much in the dark concerning the extent
to which the disease exists in Australia. I therefore recommended that the
Right Hon'ble the Secretary of State for India might be asked to move the
Colonial Office to furnish us with all reports referring to contagious diseases,
especially as affecting the Colonies of Australia, as this country is so deeply
interested in the matter owing to the large importation of horses which takes
place annually from these Colonies.