NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
MUKTESAR, FOR THE YEAR ENDING THE 31ST MARCH, 1927
5
credit for such material as is returned to the laboratory in a serviceable
condition. The total sum charged to customers during the year for
packing material amounted to Rs. 30,814, and credit to the extent of
Rs. 27,000 was given for returned material.
(g) Farm cultivation and Dairy. The land under the supervision of
the Farm Manager, including the Ritani garden, was extended from
71 to 74 acres. The financial state of this concern as represented by a
previously scheduled costing system was : expenditure (excluding super-
vision), Rs. 8,486-4; revenue, Rs. 8,813-1-3.
The Latoli estate, the reclamation of which was commenced under
special supervision (Mr. Goffi) in 1923, furnished 143½ acres of land for
actual cultivation, as compared with 99 acres in the preceding year. The
estimated financial presentation of the working of the estate during the
year was : expenditure, Rs. 17,615-15 ; receipts, Rs. 11,199-9-9. It is
estimated that the estate will become a remunerative undertaking,
according to the scheduled paper system of displaying accounts, in three
years, and, in addition, an estate of considerable capital value will have
been added to the assets of the Institute.
The quantity of milk sold in the Institute Dairy was 37,324 lb.;
the value of the milk was Rs. 3,741-4-6. The experimental herd of
breeding cattle and their progeny have been maintained for over four
years as part of the ordinary stock of the Institute, for certain researches,
among which are the experiments upon the duration of immunity in
young animals following upon the serum-simultaneous inoculation
against rinderpest.
The Izatnagar estate was taken over for cultivation by the staff of
the Institute at the commencement of 1925, and its development for the
purposes of supplying the local needs in fodder was approved by Govern-
ment, who, in April, 1926, sanctioned the special appointment of a Farm
Superintendent to supervise the work. Mr. W. Mather was appointed
to this post in July, 1926, relieving a veterinary inspector of the staff
who had been carrying on the work temporarily. During the year under
report, 261 acres were planted with the kharif crop, and 256 acres with
the rabi crop, as compared with 436 and 441 acres in the preceding year.
This short experience had shown that it was economically advisable to
restrict the extent of cultivation, as the state of the land was too poor
to yield two crops successively within a year, until much effort had been
expended in tilling and manuring. Hence, a good deal of the expenditure
entailed on the estate during the year was incurred in such improvement,
in the purchase of new implements, and in cleaning up much waste land
that hindered easy cultivation. The estimated expenditure and income
during the year was Rs. 34,692-3-2 and Rs. 26,254-4-3, as compared
with Rs. 35,109-4-5 and Rs. 19,067-4, respectively, in the preceding
year. This rate of progress is believed to be very satisfactory, and with
the completion of the Sarda canal scheme for artificial irrigation in the
neighbourhood, we may also look forward to the conversion of the estate
6 REPORT OF THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF VETERINARY RESEARCH,
into a highly profitable undertaking. The average daily attendance
of coolies was 124, as against 114 in the preceding year.
(h) Laboratory Engineering Department. At Muktesar, the quantity
of water pumped by the Power House Staff was 3,040,800 gallons.
A sedimentation and storage tank for the purification of the water supply
was constructed during the year, but has not yet been brought into use
as it still lacks some fittings. The number of units of electricity generated
was 24,143.
For incubator heating and other laboratory operations, 479,620
cubic feet of gas were generated. The steam boilers worked very satis-
factorily, evaporating 26,536 gallons of water during 2,039 working hours
for transmission mainly to the steam autoclaves, and partly for condensa-
tion for the needs of the laboratory in distilled water. A new sterilizing
house was constructed during the year, and so some of the autoclaves
had to be erected temporarily elsewhere. With the transference of
mass production of serum to Izatnagar, the electric centrifuges at
Muktesar have fallen into a state of relative disuse. Only 3,750 litres of
blood were centrifuged, for the production of anti-anthrax and anti-
blackquarter sera mainly, and with the employment of buffaloes for
yielding these sera, centrifugation has ceased to be essential, although a
somewhat increased yield of serum can be obtained by means of it.
(i) Building construction. This work was undertaken, as in the pre-
ceding year, by the Public Works Department, Imperial Works Division,
Delhi, who maintain a trained subordinate and staff in the station. The
chief items of construction were :—
Minor works.
(1) Assistant Engineer's Quarters.
(2) Assistant Surgeon's Quarters.
(3) Sanitary Inspector's Quarters.
(4) Additions and alterations to the Gas Shed.
(5) One fuel shed.
(6) Certain additions to the Post-mortem Room No. 2.
Major Works.
Culture Media Storage Room and an Office Room.
A comprehensive project for the construction of buildings on the
Izatnagar estate, at an estimated cost of Rs. 6,63,400, has been drawn up.
Some important items of " Major Works ", comprising a " Packing
House Block ", a new " Office and Store Block ", a new Grain Godown,
quarters for the Power House Staff, and segregation kraals await con-
struction at Muktesar. The living accommodation for members of the
staff is still much short of the requirements, with the accession of new
appointments to the staff
MUKTESAR, FOR THE YEAR ENDING THE 31ST MARCH, 1927
7
(j) Medical and sanitary arrangements. The numbers of patients
treated at the Muktesar dispensary were :—outdoor, 3,730; indoor, 47.
Eighty-one operations were performed, including only one major opera-
tion. There were two deaths from pulmonary tuberculosis among
Indian residents; there was no outbreak of serious epidemic disease.
The existing sanitary arrangements of the station leave much to be desired,
and many of them are makeshifts. The fly nuisance at certain seasons
is very troublesome, and the methods of disposing of excreta give cause for
apprehension. These problems have been assiduously studied by the
staff, but it is felt that the time has come for the proper study of the
whole question by a public health authority so that an effective and
economical scheme can be laid down to solve it.
(k) Library. The post of trained Librarian was sanctioned during
the year and an incumbent appointed on 30th July, 1926. The number
of periodicals now received at the Library amounts to 183, and there
are on the shelves 5,773 volumes of journals and 1,605 text-books and
1,432 miscellaneous publications besides 340 volumes sent for binding.
Arrangements were made to develop the utility of the library and to
get all members of the technical staff trained in its proper use.
(l) Finance. The general financial results of the working of the
institute are displayed in Appendix V. The budget expenditure for the
year was Rs. 6,59,490, and the income Rs. 11,06,193. These figures
would appear to represent a profit on the year's working amounting to
Rs. 4,46,703. It would not be correct to represent this difference as
actual profit, derived mainly from the sale of our products to Provincial
customers, for several reasons, apart from the fact that the figure re-
presenting expenditure does not take account of depreciation and interest
on capital costs, and as it is perhaps the most important side of an ad-
ministrative report to render a clear account of the financial situation of
the organization described for the period of the report, it is the duty
of the writer to explain the balance of expenditure and receipts so far
as he can. In the first place it is of interest to compare the figures of
the year under report with those of the preceding ten years.
1916-17
1917-18
1918-19
1919-20
1920-21
1921-22
1922-23
1923-24
1924-25
1925-26
1926-27
Financial year
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Expenditure
Rs.
2,65,754
3,36,827
4,35,173
5,09,033
6,59,544
7,20,983
7,60,178
6,94,782
7,32,030
8,53,634
6,59,490
Income
Rs.
1,62,321
2,70,877
3,44,809
3,87,831
3,85,302
4,59,759
5,09,376
4,90,721
6,62,821
13,09,398
11,06,193
Balance
Rs.
-1,03,433
-65,950
-90,364
-1,21,202
-2,74,242
-2,71,224
-2,50,802
-2,04,061
-69,209
+4,55,764
+4,46,703
MUKTESAR, FOR THE YEAR ENDING THE 31ST MARCH, 1927
11
alarming cattle diseases of India could not be obliterated within a
measurable space of time ; what is lacking mainly now is the means of
applying this knowledge. Until the means have been provided for
dealing completely and adequately with outbreaks at their seat of origin,
it cannot be said that the research worker has had an opportunity to
display the extent to which he is fully prepared already to render assist-
ance. In any event, in so far as the Muktesar Institute has been able
now to comply fully with all the demands made upon it by the field
workers in executing their most important functions, it must be adjudged
that its conduct and policy have been completely successful. During
recent years the amount of research work undertaken to achieve this
end has been very large, and it has been mainly of the " applied " kind
that does not lend itself readily to publication. It has needed the
concerted endeavour of all members of the staff. The duties of all
the higher members of the staff must necessarily converge in
the attainment of what the field services most cogently demand.
As the demand, whether addressed directly to the Institute of
implied, takes for the most part the form of a series of products which
they are prepared to purchase, the endeavours of the laboratory staff
must be turned in that direction, and even in the case of a worker such
as the Pathologist, who is given a special designation, his endeavours
have been turned mainly towards the minute study of the disease for
which the demand of protective agents is largest and of the several com-
plicating factors that arise in our endeavours to secure a high degree of
protection against this disease. The laboratory workers are also not
unmindful of the necessity of investigating disease for which the appro-
priate treatment is likely to be some agent that is not saleable by the
laboratory, and the progress of the researches undertaken upon the
treatment of surra is illustrative of this aspect of its activities.
During the year under report, upon the advice given to Government
by the Officiating Director, a total quantity of 8,41,000 doses of anti-
rinderpest serum was issued at a nominal rate of payment, three annas
per 90 c.c., to the veterinary authorities of the United Provinces Govern-
ment to combat extensive outbreaks of rinderpest in districts neighbour-
ing Muktesar (Garhwal, Almora, Naini Tal) which are the sources of
its hill bull supply. This concession represented a diminution in price
below that which would be charged ordinarily for the serum amount-
ing in all to Rs. 1,48,927-1-0, so that if this sum were also added to
the revenue of the Institute for the year, it would amount to
Rs. 12,55,120-1-0.
III. MANUFACTURE AND ISSUE OF SERA AND VACCINES.
(A summary of the results reported to have been obtained in the
field after the use of these products is given in Appendix I.)
The mode of manufacture of the principal products of the laboratory
has been somewhat fully described in the Report of the Institute for the
MUKTESAR, FOR THE YEAR ENDING THE 31ST MARCH, 1927
13
propagation will be the institution of some form of co-operative insurance
to cover the anticipated losses among the animals subjected to it.
The serum for use against hæmorrhagic septicæmia is now also
made entirely at Izatnagar from buffaloes discontinued from rinderpest
production, by means of the simple processes described in the 1924-25
Report.
Sera against anthrax and blackquarter are still made at Muktesar'
and all the vaccines and other biological products (mallein, tuberculin).
The demand for blackquarter serum has become much larger than was
anticipated and the demand for blackquarter aggressin, the new safe
product made for preventive inoculation against this disease, has been
very high. The efficacy of the aggressin may be estimated from the
following extract from a letter, dated 27th May, 1927, from the Live-
stock Expert to the Government of the Punjab and Superintendent,
Government Cattle Farm, Hissar :—
" Last month, I had a very severe outbreak of blackquarter among
a mob of 1,000 heifers divided into 10 herds according to
age. The only herds which altogether escaped the outbreak
were the oldest (3 years old), and the youngest (9 months)
inoculated a month before with blackquarter aggressin."
The actual figures representing the quantities of the various products
manufactured and issued are as follows :—
(1) Rinderpest serum. Issued 53,80,187 (5 c.c.) doses, as against
52,95,829 doses in the preceding year. Of the quantity issued, 4,91,626
doses were for the serum-simultaneous inoculation, the remainder being
for the preventive inoculation. The quantity manufactured was 56,57,201
doses, as against 71,41,301 doses in 1925-26. Izatnagar contributed
52,64,470 doses ; the rest was made at Muktesar. The stock in hand at
the commencement of the year (at Muktesar and Izatnagar) was 39,35,883
doses and at the close 42,20,147 doses.
(2) Hæmorrhagic septicæmia serum. Issued 3,63,709 (15 c.c.) doses,
as compared with 2,88,350 doses in 1925-26. The quantity manufactured
was 3,85,231 doses, entirely at Izatnagar, as compared with 5,58,000
doses in the preceding year. The stock in hand (at Muktesar and
Izatnagar) at the commencement of the year was 3,79,941 doses, and at
the close 4,01,463 doses.
(3) Hæmorrhagic septicæmia vaccine. Issued 2,88,350 (5 c.c.) doses,
as compared with 2,11,150 doses in 1925-26. Manufactured 3,13,400
doses, as compared with 2,03,400 doses in the previous year. Stock in
hand at the commencement of the year, 27,700 doses ; at close, 52,750
doses.
(4) Anthrax serum. Issued 29,047 (15 c.c.) doses, as compared with
73,018 doses in 1925-26. Manufactured 83,434 doses, as against 52,669
doses in the preceding year. Stock in hand at the commencement of
the year 15,529 doses ; at close, 70,316 doses.
14 REPORT OF THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF VETERINARY RESEARCH.
(5) Blackquarter serum. Issued 28,928 (15 c.c.) doses, as compared
with 7,893 doses in 1925-26. Manufactured 18,216 doses, as against
12,698 doses in the previous year. Stock in hand at the commence-
ment of the year, 11,584 doses ; at close, 872 doses.
(6) Blackquarter vaccines. (a) Issued 50,500 doses of the " pillule "
vaccine as compared with 21,500 doses in 1925-26. Manufactured 44,200
doses, as against 10,000 doses in the previous year. Stock in hand at
the commencement of the year 6,300 doses; at close nil doses. (b)
Issued 79,600 (5 c.c.) doses of the " aggressin " vaccine, as compared
with 36,756 doses in 1925-26. Manufactured 60,510 doses, as against
57,496 doses in the previous year. Stock in hand at the commencement
of the year, 20,740 doses; at close, 1,650 doses.
(7) Mallein. (a) Issued 16,663 (1 c.c.) doses of mallein for the
ordinary, or subcutaneous, test for glanders, as compared with 40,836
doses in 1925-26. (b) Issued 23,415 (0.1 c.c.) doses for the intra-palpebral
(I. D. P.) test, as compared with 24,100 doses in 1925-26. There were
in stock 10,864 doses ordinary, and 80,980 doses I. D. P. mallein at the
commencement of the year, and 22,781 doses for the subcutaneous test
were manufactured during the year as against 51,550 doses in the
previous year.
(8) Tuberculin. (a) Issued 310 (3 c.c.) doses of ordinary (human)
tuberculin for the subcutaneous test for tuberculosis, and 3,130 (0.2 c.c.)
doses of concentrated (human) tuberculin for the intra-palpebral test for
the disease, as compared with 3,888 and 13,325 doses, respectively, in
1925-26. (b) Issued 48 (8 c.c.) doses of ordinary avian tuberculin for
the subcutaneous test, and 2,865 (0.25 c.c.) doses of concentrated avian
tuberculin for the intra-palpebral test, for Johne's disease, as compared
with 1,130 and 4,330 doses, respectively, in 1925-26. None of these pro-
ducts were prepared during the year under report, as there were suffi-
cient stocks in hand at the commencement of the year [3,319 doses
ordinary (human) tuberculin, 2,790 doses concentrated (human) tuber-
culin, 1,395 doses ordinary avian tuberculin, and 17,270 doses concen-
trated avian tuberculin].
(9) Strangles serum and vaccine. Issued 13,146 (15 c.c.) doses of
anti-streptococcic serum and 3,394 series of doses (1, 2, 3) of anti-strep-
tococcic vaccine, as against 817 doses of serum and 345 doses of vaccine
in the preceding year. A quantity of serum and vaccine was discarded.
These products were issued on request; the researches of former years,
however, have failed to demonstrate their efficacy, and their use there-
fore has not been advised. 4,032 doses of the vaccine were prepared
during the year.
(10) Contagious abortion (equine) vaccine. Issued 200 doses of this
vaccine (Bacillus abortivo-equinus), as against none in the preceding year.
(11) Autogenous and specially prepared vaccines. Issued 10 doses of
autogenous and 20 doses of " mixed " vaccine, as compared with 250
doses of autogenous and 10 doses of mixed vaccine in the previous
year.
MUKTESAR, FOR THE YEAR ENDING THE 31ST MARCH, 1927
15
(12) Rinderpest virus. Issued 34,640 (1 c.c.) doses of virulent rinder
post blood for the active immunization of cattle by the serum-simul-
taneous method against rinderpest, as against 44,045 doses in 1925-26.
Over one-half of this quantity was despatched to the Branch Institute
at Izatnagar for the immunization of buffaloes in the manufacture of
anti-rinderpest serum.
A perusal of the above figures indicates that the total issues of 1926-27
were approximately equal to those of 1925-26 (63,18,758 total doses,
as against 61,81,800 total doses), and yet the income of the year
under report was distinctly lower than that of the previous year
(Rs. 10,88,346-9-11, as against Rs. 12,82,620-15-6). The reasons for this
reduction in income, by Rs. 1,94,274-5-7, are :—(a) a concession, amount-
ing to Rs. 1,48,927-1-0, to the United Provinces Government for the
inoculation of hill cattle in the districts adjoining the laboratory; (b)
a concession sanctioned by Government on a large consignment of serum
ordered by Persia, amounting to Rs. 13,518-4-0; (c) value of products
supplied in March, 1926, the price of which was recoverable in 1926-27,
was Rs. 54,703-2-0 ; value of products supplied in March, 1927, the price
of which was recoverable in 1927-28, was Rs. 76,764-0-0 ; the difference,
amounting to Rs. 22,060-14-0, should, in reality, be reckoned as earned
income for the year under review ; (d) the sum of the outstanding bills
for 1926-27 was Rs. 12,194-1-4, while the sum of such bills for 1927-28
was Rs. 28,089-3-0; the difference, amounting to Rs. 15,895-2-0, should
also be regarded as income earned during the year under report. The
sum represented by these concessions and differences amounts to
Rs, 2,00,401-5-0, which can be added to actual revenue, Rs. 10,88,346-9-11,
to indicate the full value (Rs. 12,88,747-14-11) of the products issued
during' the year.
Empty boxes and bottles were returned by the Provinces in the course
of the year, for which credit to the extent of approximately Rs. 27,000
was given them, by deduction of this amount from the annual bills sent
to them for supplies.
The despatching staff at Muktesar needs considerable strengthening
for the proper performance of the work.
IV. INSTRUCTION.
Instructions were received from the Government of India regulating
the systems of instruction and the fees payable for the courses Two
officers of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps visited the laboratory for
training for short periods, namely, Captain E. C. Bowes, from the 2nd
September to the 1st October, 1926, and Captain W. P. S. Edwardes,
from the 30th September to the 19th October, 1926. Two subordinate
Indian veterinary officers received training for short periods, namely,
Jamadar Abdul Majid Khan, I.A.V.C., from the 12th July to the 10th
August, 1926, and Laboratory Assistant Syed Salman-i-Hasan Naqvi,
of the Civil Veterinary Department, United Provinces, from the 16th
16 REPORT OF THE IMPERIAL INSTITUTE OF VETERINARY RESEARCH,
August to the 15th October, 1926. In addition, the three years' special
training, which commenced in January 1925, was continued for the two
Veterinary Inspectors deputed by the Mysore Civil Veterinary Depart-
ment to the laboratory; their progress has been very good.
V. RESEARCH.
The research work undertaken at the Institute is only touched upon
cursorily in the present Report, as it seems to be the wish of Government
that information upon such work should be communicated in original
papers. The following are very brief notes upon the principal items of
research:—
Rinderpest. It is generally stated that the immunity following upon
the serum-simultaneous inoculation against rinderpest is a permanent
or lifelong one, and work has been taken in hand at Muktesar to corro-
borate this view. As mentioned elsewhere in this Report, an experimental
dairy herd has been maintained for the breeding of animals which could
be kept under observation for a number of years from birth onwards.
Calves born in the experimental dairy and some kindly lent to the labora-
tory by the Military Dairy authorities have been immunized for some
years, and experience has shown that calves only a few days old can be
subjected to the treatment quite safely. Thereafter their immunity has
been tested by inoculation of batches with highly virulent material at
selected intervals. The immunity has been found to last in a solid form
for two years. Subsequently, it commences gradually to wane. By
the third year the half-bred European animals were found to have lost
their immunity to such a degree that they had become distinctly sus-
ceptible.
Some reports received from the Military Dairies have also indicated
a decline in immunity among inoculated animals after this interval.
However, much prolonged research needs execution to determine the
influence of a number of contingencies upon the duration of the immunity,
such as the age of the inoculated animal, the degree of reaction, and the
breed or initial susceptibility of the animal, for we have even in India
some controlled observations indicating that immunity may be consi-
derably longer in duration than is indicated by our experiments.
In view of the reported efficacy of certain artificial vaccines in the
protection of cattle against rinderpest, experiments were undertaken
at Muktesar to demonstrate any useful vaccinating properties in materials
prepared in many different ways, but all of these proved inefficacious.
Researches upon rinderpest in the smaller ruminants, now in progress,
bid well, however, to provide additional means of great value in the
control of the disease. In a previous Report, it was said that the infec-
tion had been successfully implanted upon rabbits. Prolonged and
intensive research has led to means being devised whereby the virus
can be easily propagated in goats, by successive inoculation with small
quantities of blood. The virus has now been maintained in goats for