4
15. Serum experiments.—Under the orders of the Inspector General,
Civil Veterinary Department, the Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department,
Central Provinces, deposited a certain quantity of anti-rinderpest serum
No. XXII in a pit in the ground at Nagpur for a period of a year, with a
view to having it tested as to the loss of protective power or otherwise. At
the termination of that period (October 1905) a sample bottle of 350 c. c. of
the serum above referred to was forwarded to Muktesar from the Central
Provinces, and, at a later date, was tested with the following result:—
Serum No. XXII deposited at Muktesar was tested on two different
occasions:—
(i) At the time of preparation June 1904.
(ii) One and a half years later.
The protective power was found to be identical on each occasion.
The quantity of serum returned from Nagpur did not allow of an exten-
sive series of animals being utilized, for a hill animal requires 18 times the
dose that of a plains animal, whose body weight is 600 lbs. It would appear
from the results obtained that the serum deposited in a pit at Nagpur, at a
depth of 10 feet, in which the temperature is said never to have exceeded
90° F. deteriorated but slightly in value during its detention.
16. Virulent spleen pulp.—Experiments were continued with a view to
producing a material in small bulk by which rinderpest could be reproduced
in virulent form in the field, should animals require to be protected by the
simultaneous method in a part of the country where the disease was non-
existent. For this purpose, the spleens of animals affected with rinderpest
were removed at the time of death and passed through the mincing machine
until the whole tissues of the organ were pulped. This material was then
removed and dried in the exsiccator over sulphuric acid in vacuô, for periods
of from 3 to 10 days; the following are the results of the experiments con-
ducted with the same material:—
(a) Material dried in vacuô for three days.—This was tested on a hill
bull on the day it was removed from the exsiccator and
powdered. It was then found to have retained its ordinary
virulence, killing hill cattle in six days.
(b) Material dried in vacuô for eight days.—This powder was tested on
hill bulls first when removed from the exsiccator and again after
a period of 59 days.
The animal inoculated with the material on removal died of typical
rinderpest, and in the latter experiment the hill bull showed a rise in tempera-
ture to 40.6°C. on the third evening, vesicles, etc., appeared on the fifth and
death followed on the 11th day of disease. During the interval above referred
to, the powdered spleen was placed in a stoppered bottle well secured from the
air and was kept in the dark.
17. Rinderpest in black buck.—A black buck exposed to the " contagium "
of rinderpest contracted the disease spontaneously and succumbed in due course.
The autopsy showed that the so-called Peyers Patches were raised and velvety
and that an intense congestion of the mucous membrane of the body was
generally present.
This opportunity was embraced in order to test the virulence of the
"contagium" of rinderpest in hill cattle, when previously passed through the
black buck. For this purpose, a certain amount of the marrow of a long bone
was removed as quickly as possible after the death of the animal. An emul-
sion was made with the marrow in physiological salt solution, and 1.0 c. c.
injected subcutaneously into a healthy hill bull. The period of incubation
occupied three and a half days, the temperature rose to 40.7° C. at the seventh
observation, vesicles followed on the fifth day of disease instead of the third
as is usually the case in hill bovines. Ulcers appeared 24 hours later together
with diarrhœa; at the same time anorexia was present and persisted for a
period of four days. The animal, however, recovered and was still alive three
months later.
We may deduce from the above observations that this species of deer is
liable to be affected by rinderpest and that susceptible animals are capable of
contracting the disease from it by inoculation, but it would appear that the