MUKTESAR, FOR THE YEAR ENDING THE 31ST MARCH, 1925
17
a tributary station on the plains, at Izatnagar, has therefore proved of inestimable value
for the solution of this difficulty, and its steady development to an institution where al-
most all the bulky products of the laboratory are now manufactured is the outcome
of the lessons learned at Muktesar. The tributary station is equipped with a permanent
organization, under the continuous supervision of an Imperial Officer (Mr. Haddow)
and the processes of manufacture of sera there are executed strictly according to a precisely
set programme. No alteration is made in this programme until such time as the indica-
tions furnished by research at Muktesar have been tested out on a sufficiently large,
practical scale to justify their incorporation in the Izatnagar routine operations. It has
been found expedient at times to have certain projects tested cut also at Izatnagar,
in order to have a second, probably less biassed, execution of experiments, but nothing
is allowed to hamper there the routine execution of the manufacturing programme. In
this manner, the methods of manufacture of almost all the routine products issued from
the laboratory have undergone a complete transformation in the course of the last few
years.
(a) Anti-rinderpest serum. The manufacture of this product for the preventive in-
oculation of cattle, by the " serum alone " method, throughout India and Burma conti-
nues to be the main function of the laboratory, as regards expenditure and income. The
quantity issued was 28,48,110 doses (" dose "= 5 c. c., which is the protective dose for
the least susceptible plains cattle), as against 19,86,399 doses in 1923-24. The much in-
creased issue of this serum accounts for the more favourable financial position of the
laboratory during the year under report.
The quantity manufactured was 25,76,814 doses as compared with 33,09,027 doses
made in 1923-24. Izatnagar, where operations commenced with the onset of the cold
weather towards the end of October 1924, contributed 21,79,032 doses, and Muktesar
3,97,782 doses to the quantity made, but the Muktesar manufacture was represented
mainly by a large volume of serum (3,37,414 doses) forthcoming from an experiment
carried out there on a practical scale to test the soundness of the assumption that a good
serum could be derived economically from buffaloes without "hyperimmunization." The
remainder of the Muktesar serum was also derived from various experiments upon manu-
facture, and found to be potent, for in such experiments a profitable yield of serum can
usually be obtained in such quantity as to compensate very largely for the outlay on the
research. A quantity amounting to 241,400 doses remaining in stock from the time when
the older method of manufacture was practised and found to be rather toxic and of low
potency was discarded.
At the expiry of the year under report there was available a stock in hand for preventive-
inoculation amounting to 92,500 doses tested and passed for issue, and 18,69,646 doses in
parcels of varying known potency to be mixed in certian indicated proportions for issue.
In addition there were on hand 1,01,185 " doses " (5 c. c.) of specially prepared serum
of high potency for use in the active immunization of cattle, by the serum-simulta-
neous method, against rinderpest. The policy now adopted is to despatch (in specially
adapted kerosene oil tins) the crude stocks manufactured at Izatnagar to Muktesar, where
they are stored in four 500 -gallon tanks, one containing the sera from early bleedings
and the remaining three the sera from subsequent bleedings in consecutive order. The
four tanks thus contain sera of decreasing potency, which is ascertained by systematic
tests from time to time on hill bulls, and the serum issued to the field is composed of
mixtures from the tanks found quite adequate to protect cattle at the guaranteed dosages
(tested to protect hill bulls at 90 c.c. per 600 lbs. body weight).
The policy of manufacturing excess stocks during the period of depression in demand
in anticipation of a wave of increased intensity of rinderpest throughout India has been
fully justified. There came evidence towards October 1924 of this increased intensity
from the direction of the Bombay Presidency, and by the close of the financial year insist-
ent demands for unusually large quantities of serum came from all Provinces. The aver-
age monthly issue of rinderpest serum during the first half of the year to provinces and
Indian States amounted to 1,65,566 doses, and during the second half to 2,74,119 doses.
In addition, towards the end of the year consignments were exported to Siam (1,60,000
doses) and to Iraq (50,000 doses).
It may be added that after the end of the financial year the wave of intensity of rinder-
pest, as judged by the consumption of serum, has steadily increased, but no anxiety is
apprehended regarding the capacity of the laboratory to meet all orders.
It may also be noted that a wise step has been taken by the Madras Presidency in
rescinding its previous orders enacting a monetary charge upon cattle owners for serum
B 2