17
Result.—The temperature rose on the fourth day, buccal vesicles and
ulcers, a watery discharge from the eyes and nose, and diarrhœa with
passage of mucus occurred, and he died of rinderpest on the 9th day, the
diagnosis being confirmed by a post mortem examination.
Remarks.—As already pointed out, this skin had been exposed to the
chance of reinfection by being kept in the post mortem room in which
autopsies were being performed almost daily, so that it is open to question
whether the infection really remained alive in this skin for 26 days, and the
result of later experiments showed that this could not have been the case, as
other skins had lost their infection in far shorter periods, and the skin had
probably become reinfected or the animal contracted the disease from the shed
in which he had been placed.
Experiment No. III.—A small bull, aged 2½, was inoculated subcutane¬
ously on March 4th with 10 c.c. of an extract of small pieces of hide of an
animal which had died of inoculated rinderpest on the night of the 20th
February, and which had been dried in the sun for ten days, during which
time the maximum temperature in the shade had varied between 51° and
60°, and the minimum between 37° and 44° F.
Result —The temperature, pulse and respiratory curves remained normal
for ten days and no symptoms of disease appeared. This animal was sub-
sequently used for another experiment and contracted rinderpest and died of
the disease, proving that he was susceptible to the infection, and if the skin
had contained the living virus he would have contracted the disease.
Remarks.—These three preliminary experiments proved that skins that
had been dried in the sun for from 10 to 20 days no longer contained the
germs of the disease, but left it in doubt as to whether a skin which had been
kept in an infected room had retained the infection or had been reinfected by
its unfavourable surroundings.
SECOND SERIES OF EXPERIMENTS.
32. Experiment No. V.—A bull, aged 6 years, was inoculated sub¬
cutaneously on the 15th March with 10 c.c. of saline extract of small pieces
of the skin of an animal, which had died of inoculated rinderpest on the 28th
February, and which had been dried in the sun for four days, during which
the maximum temperature in the shade varied between 40° and 61° F. and the
minimum between 39° and 41°, while the maximum registered by the solar
radiation thermometer (blackened bulb thermometer invacuo) was on each day
respectively 126.6,° 135°, 128.8° and 129.4° F.
Result.—The temperature, pulse and respiratory curves remained normal
and no symptoms appeared for 8 days, but two other animals in the same shed,
belonging to a different set of experiments having contracted the disease in
the meanwhile, this animal's temperature rose on the ninth day and a typical
attack of rinderpest, from which he died, ensued.
Remarks.—In this case natural infection contracted from other diseased
animals occurred just after the limit of the incubation period after the skin
extract injection had elapsed, showing that the animal was susceptible to the
disease, but the skin was no longer infectious after being dried in the sun for
four days, and kept in a room for ten days more.
Experiment No. VI.—A bull aged 1½, was inoculated with 10 c.c. of a saline
extract of small pieces of a skin of an animal which had died of inoculated rinder-
pest, which had been treated with common salt well rubbed into it and placed
in the sun for two days until it was dry, and then kept hung up in a room for
twelve days more. This was part of the same skin as was used in experiment
No. IV, so that the temperature conditions were identical with those given above.
Result—The temperature, pulse and respiratory curves remained normal
for nine days, and no symptoms of disease appeared during that period of time,
but on the tenth day the temperature rose and fatal rinderpest ensued, doubt-
less due to natural infection from other diseased animals in the same shed, as
occurred in the case of experiment No. IV, described above. The disease
appeared after the extreme incubation period had already elapsed since the
injection of the skin extract.
Experiment No. VII—A bull, aged 3½, was inoculated with 10 c. c. of an
extract of small pieces of skin from an animal which had died of inoculated
rinderpest, and which had been treated with chunam (lime) and placed in the