2
On receipt of your letter No. 474—191-M., with instructions, I at once
placed myself in direct communication with Professor Koch. The outcome
of our several interviews was, that Professor Koch kindly offered to demon-
strate the steps of his protective system against Rinderpest in cattle, if he
might be allowed to obtain the material at the seat of an outbreak of the
disease, and conduct his demonstrations at the Muktesar Laboratory. After
having informed you by wire of the Professor's proposals, I followed out in-
structions received, to obtain information concerning outbreaks of Rinderpest as
near as possible to the Laboratory. For this purpose, I put myself in commu-
nication with the Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department, North-Western
Provinces, and later ascertained that the disease was reported from the districts
of Barabanki and Fyzabad (Partapgarh, Akbarpur.) Permission having been
obtained by wire from His Honour the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-
Western Provinces.
6. After making the necessary arrangements in Bombay, Professors Koch,
Gaffky and Pfeiffer left with me on the 26th of May and proceeded at once to
Lucknow, where we arrived on the 28th. From this station telegrams were
despatched to different district officers, and information received as to the best
locality to visit for our purpose. On the morning of the 30th May, in consulta-
tion with the district authorities at Fyzabad, we* left Lucknow for that
station with a view to visiting Akbarpur, where a Rinderpest outbreak had
been reported to exist. Information having been received by the Deputy
Commissioner during the day concerning cattle disease in the Akbarpur tehsil,
tents and other necessaries were despatched by his orders to Akbarpur to await
our arrival on the following morning.
At 6 A.M. on the 31st May, we proceeded by rail to the above station. The
Veterinary Assistant of the district met us there, and informed us that Rinder-
pest was supposed to be present in the villages near Tanda, some 12 miles
distant. After corroborating the same, we made arrangements for leaving the
station at daybreak on the following morning.
7. On our arrival at Tanda, on June 1st, the Veterinary Assistant was
despatched to visit certain villages with a view to discovering cases of the
disease. On his return with information as to the presence of cattle plague,
we proceeded to the village of Rajipura and there found several head of cattle
and buffaloes suffering from Rinderpest and the carcass of one which was said
to have succumbed about half an hour.
Professor Koch made the autopsy on the animal and subsequently express-
ed it as 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 therefore the Indian and the South African diseases are identical. "
At the same time the Professor collected blood from the heart in sterilized
flasks, which he defibrinated 'in vitrio.' He also collected bile from the gall
bladder into similar flasks. These vessels were subsequently placed in ice.
Early on the following morning we again visited the same and other villages,
with a hope that we might obtain another autopsy; however, as no animal had
succumbed to the disease during the night, we collected specimens of nasal and
lachrymal discharges, together with small quantities of fœcal matter and mucus,
passed respectively by a buffalo and a bull suffering from Rinderpest. On our
return to camp, the whole of our specimens were carefully deposited in a tin-
box which was surrounded entirely on all sides with thick slabs of ice, four
inches thick, and we then proceeded to the Laboratory at Muktesar, with the
utmost despatch, where we arrived at 6 P.M. on June 4th.
8. With the Rinderpest material brought from Tanda, it was the intention,
if possible,—
(a) to reproduce the disease by inoculation of blood, in order to obtain a
supply at a later date for proving the immunising power of the
bile ;
(b) to reproduce the disease with nasal discharge and dung ;
* Professors Koch, Pfeiffer, Veterinary-Captain H. T. Pease and myself.