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6 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE IMPL. INST. OF VETY. RESEARCH
III.—PRODUCTION.
An innovation has been introduced into this year's report by
printing in full the report of the Deputy Director, Imperial Veteri-
nary Serum Institute, Izatnagar, by which designation the Officer-
in-Charge of the production sub-station of this Institute is now
known. The Government of India approved of this change towards
the end of the year under review, and also agreed to the separation
of the budgets of the parent and daughte Institutes.
Another change which was made during the year, in order to
try to cut down the delay and expense involved by the transport
of sera from Izatnagar to Muktesar and back again, was the
bottling and issue from Izatnagar after testing of those products
which are made there as a routine. Although this arrangement
cannot be developed to the full until more buildings, including
a cold store, have been provided at Izatnagar, yet its great
advantages have been well demonstrated, even during the short
time it has so far been working.
A sum of Rs. 1,32,000 has been allotted during the current
year for the construction of some of the most urgently required
buildings at Izatnagar, and it is hoped, now that a commence-
ment has at last been made, it will be possible soon to convert this
Institute into one worthy of the name which has been given to it.
The products which are now manufactured at, and, to a great
extent, issued from, Izatnagar are Anti-Rinderpest serum, Anti-
Hæmorrhagic Septicæmia serum, Anti-Blackquarter serum and
Blackquarter Aggressin and further reference to these products
will be found in Mr. Haddow's report. Complete figures of all
products made at Muktesar and Izatnagar and the manner in
which they were distributed will be found in Appendices I and
II to this report, while a summary of the results reported from
the field is contained in Appendix III. A statement showing the
conditions governing the sale and the prices of the products sold
by this Institute is published as Appendix VI. The Serum
Department at Muktesar has been placed in the charge of
Mr. Keiller, Head Laboratory Assistant.
Throughout the year considerable difficulty was experienced in
producing a sufficiently potent Anti-Rinderpest serum for use in
serum-simultaneous inoculations, and another disturbing factor
was the unusually rapid deterioration in potency of some of the
brews. A great deal of work was done, both at Muktesar and
Izatnagar, to try and determine the factors responsible for this,
but it has not yet been possible to arrive at any definite conclusions
in the matter, although certain possibilities have been excluded.
For instance, tests carried out indicated that no difference was
made to the potency of sera when preserved either by carbolic
alone or by what is known as the routine method at this Institute,
viz., acriflavine, carbolic and soda.
Again, owing to the insufficiency of stocks of Class I serum,
and in the hope that the climate in the hills would prove more
MUKTESAR, FOR THE YEAR ENDING THE 31ST MARCH, 1930. 7
favourable for serum production, a brew of Anti-Rinderpest serum
was prepared from some carefully selected buffaloes at Muktesar
in June but nothing better than a Class II serum was obtained.
The help of the newly appointed Bio-Chemist was also invoked
in this matter and he commenced some experiments to determine
the protein content of Anti-Rinderpest serum at different times of
the year. He also investigated the discrepancies which have been
observed in estimating the Hydrogen-ion concentration of the same
serum at Muktesar and Izatnagar, and from his results it appears
that the discrepancies have been due almost entirely to variations
in reading, according to the reagent used.
Owing to complaints having been received from the Army
Department concerning the potency of the Mallein issued from this
Institute, steps were taken to examine the position, and a great
deal of experimental work was done on this subject and was still
in progress at the end of the year.
As anticipated in last year's Annual Report the issue of
strangles vaccine has been discontinued, and this product has been
replaced by a mixed Anti-Streptococcic polyvalent vaccine, which
is designed for more extended use.
There was a small demand for Anti-Fowl Cholera serum during
the year, and some experimental work on this product was also
undertaken.
IV.—INSTRUCTION.
It having been laid down by the Government of India in their
letter No. 1549-Agri., dated 14th August 1926, that an advanced
post-graduate Course for Veterinary Officers should be held only
once in two years, no such course was held in the year under
review, but the following officers attended the Institute at different
times for periods varying from 2—3 months and received practical
instruction in all technical matters undertaken at the Institute : —
(1) Major E. M. Nicholl, Research Officer, Punjab Veterinary
College.
(2) Veterinary Assistant Surgeon S. K. Acharya, Civil Veteri-
nary Department, United Provinces.
(3) M. Muhammad Aziz Hasan, Deputy Superintendent,
Civil Veterinary Department, Hyderabad, Deccan.
(4) Veterinary Inspector C. V. G. Pillai, Civil Veterinary
Department, Hyderabad, Deccan.
(5) Luang Sri Saliphit, Veterinary Department, Siam.
(6) Nai KeoPuothang Ngam, Veterinary Department, Siam.
(7) Veterinary Assistant Surgeon H. V. Save, Baroda.
(8) Veterinary Assistant Surgeon Sarfaraz Khan, Civil Veteri-
nary Department, North-West Frontier Province.
Mr. P. S. Nair of the Civil Veterinary Department, Central
provinces, arrived for a special 8 months' course of training in the
previous year and completed it on 14th July 1929.
8
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE IMPL. INST. OF VETY. RESEARCH,
V.—RESEARCH.
During the year an attempt was made to arrange the technical
work of the Institute in such a way that the officers engaged in
research would be relieved as far as possible of all administrative
duties, these being concentrated in the office of the Director and
his Personal Assistant. Moreover, it soon became apparent, after
the declaration of the Director as Head of a Department and the
formation of the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research, that
the Director would be called upon to do more touring than hitherto,
and it was, therefore, imperative that the Institute should be
organized in such a way that all work in the technical sections
was supervised by an experienced officer, responsible to the
Director, but capable of carrying on independently whenever
necessary.
As part of this scheme it was considered advisable in the first
place, as already mentioned, to make a separate entity of the
production sub-station at Izatnagar under a Deputy Director and
then to arrange for the supervision of the numerous technical
sections at Muktesar. Mr. Cooper, Pathologist, being the only
officer at Muktesar sufficiently experienced to be given such super-
visory duties, all the technical sections have been placed under
him for the present, and, as already stated, he has been transferred
temporarily to the post of 1st Veterinary Research Officer. His
report of the work done under his supervision is printed below
in full.
It is not suggested that the above arrangement is an ideal one,
for the amount of supervising work to be done at this Institute
over the existing technical sections is far more than one officer
should be asked to undertake, but it seemed the best arrangement
to make under the circumstances and it lends itself easily to the
next step, which is very urgently required, of splitting up the
research work of the Institute amongst teams of workers, each
headed by a Veterinary Research Officer of experience and repute.
Work on the preparation of a vaccine for use against Rinder-
pest has been undertaken at this Institute in previous years,
usually with unfavourable results, but a further series of experi-
ments was carried out in the year under report with the chloroform-
treated vaccine of Kelser. These results were more encouraging
and it is intended to continue the work, using both Kelser's and
Daubney's formalinised vaccine, but up to the time of writing
this has not been possible owing to sudden depletions in staff caused
by sickness.
Research on Johne's Disease has been continued by Mr. Cooper
whenever possible, but the importance of this subject and also
that of Bovine Tuberculosis, and the difficulty of dealing with them
satisfactorily under present conditions, has resulted in an applica-
tion being made to the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research
for the appointment of a special officer for 5 years to undertake
research work on the acid-fast group of organisms, which includes
those responsible for the above two conditions.
MUKTESAR, FOR THE YEAR ENDING THE 31ST MARCH, 1930.
9
The question of Theileriasis in imported bulls continued to be
one of great interest and importance, both to this Institute and
the Army Department, and in view of the necessity for a closer
study of this and other Protozoal conditions occurring in domestic
animals in this country. the Imperial Council of Agricultural
Research has been approached to provide the funds for a Veterinary
Protozoologist to be attached to this Institute for a period of 5
years in the first place.
In spite of the recognised importance of Contagious Abortion
to cattle and horse-breeders in this country, it was found impossible
to undertake any new research work into these conditions as they
occur in these animals, and the Imperial Council of Agricultural
Research were therefore approached to sanction the funds for
another specialist officer for 5 years to study this condition in the
different domestic animals. An interesting outbreak of the condi-
tion amongst goats on the Hissar Cattle Farm was reported during
the year.
As a result of a visit to the Institute of Colonel Olver, now Ex-
pert Adviser in Annual Husbandry to the Imperial Council of Agri-
cultural Research, a fresh impetus was given to the study of
strangles, the so-called " Paddock fever " and other respiratory
diseases of the horse, and as a result a scheme has been placed
before the Imperial Council of Agricultural Research to recruit an
officer on special duty for three years to study these equine
diseases.
Mr. Cooper, assisted by Mr. Menon, continued his intensive
study of the condition known as " Ranikhet Fowl disease " and had
the satisfaction of reaching a definite stage in his investigations,
enabling him to show the identity of this disease with both
" Newcastle disease " of fowls in England and " Avian Pest " in
the Philippines. The virus of both the English and Philippine
forms of the disease were very kindly supplied to this Institute by
Dr. E. A. Rodier, Pathologist, Veterinary Research Laboratory,
Manila.
During the course of his duties as routine Pathologist, Mr.
Malkani, Temporary Veterinary Research Officer, discovered a
large number of larvæ of the Warble fly, Hypoderma lineatum,
in the submucosa of the œsophagus of several hill-bulls. These
larvæ appear to have been observed here previously, but they
were not identified, and in view of the interest which was
aroused in this condition during the evidence taken by the Hides
Cess Enquiry Committee, which sat in 1929, it is to be hoped that
further investigations into the life-history of this parasite will
become possible.
A total of 276 consignments of material from outside sources,
as compared with 157 similar consignments received in 1928-29,
indicates increased appreciation of the efforts made by the staff to
deal with these specimens promptly and efficiently. The details
10
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE IMPL. INST. OF VETY. RESEARCH,
of the specimens are given in Appendix IV, and their origin was
as follows:—
Army Department
Provincial Civil Veterinary Departments
Indian States
.....
Private persons, etc.
....
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
180
50
23
23
276
During the year a commencement was made to set up Patho-
logical and Parasitological Museums. Owing to lack of accommo-
dation and shortage of staff this was not attempted before, but it
seems necessary that a special effort should be made to preserve
in a proper manner, both for research and instructional purposes,
the wealth of material which passes through this Institute in the
course of each year.
VI.—PUBLICATIONS.
The following papers were read by members of the staff of this
Institute at the Indian Science Congress, Allahabad, 1930 :—
(1) " Equine Filariasis—a short review of the literature " by
Mr. S. K. Sen.
(2) " The diagnosis of Redwater (Piroplasmosis) of Indian
Cattle ", by Messrs. H. Cooper and P. R. K. Iyer.
(3) " Tick infestation in the coastal tract of North Canara
District" by Mr. R. N. Naik.
(4) " Hæmolysis by Narcotics I: The effect of primary and
secondary Amines and allied substances in the Hæmo-
lysis of sheep's Red blood Corpuscles " by Dr. K. C.
Sen.
A paper entitled "Ranikhet disease: A new disease of Fowls
in India due to a filter-passing virus " was submitted by Mr.
Cooper to the World Poultry Congress to be held in London in
July 1930.
There is a very large amount of further valuable information
awaiting publication from this Institute, and it is hoped that as
soon as the proposed Indian Journal of Veterinary Science makes
its appearance the staff will have the necessary incentive and will
be able to find the time to write this up.
VII.—FINANCE.
The general financial results of the working of the Institute are
displayed in Appendix V. The expenditure for the year was
Rs. 7,77,320-9-6 and the income amounted to Rs. 15,60,236-12-3
representing a gross profit on the year's working of Rs. 7,82,916-2-9,
as compared with Rs. 7,53,694 in the previous year. The figure for
expenditure includes a supplementary grant of Rs. 81,000-0-0
MUKTESAR, FOR THE YEAR ENDING THE 31ST MARCH, 1930. 11
which was sanctioned in order to enable the Institute to comply
with a. large order for special Anti-Rinderpest serum received from
the Madras Government towards the end of the year. The total
amount of extra serum made as a result of this supplementary
grant was not distributed, however, until after the close of the
year.
As a result of complaints received from some of the provinces
regarding the price charged for certain of our products the question
of revising these has been under consideration, but it has been
found very difficult to arrive at any decision regarding the actual
cost of production of any product, while the processes of manufac-
ture and research are so intimately bound up together, as at
present. In order to obviate this difficulty it is intended to transfer
as much as possible of the processes of manufacture and distribu-
tion, at least of our most important products, as early as possible,
to the Imperial Veterinary Serum Institute at Izatnagar, where it
is proposed to introduce a system of commercial and cost accounts
during the coming year. Within a short time, therefore, it should
be possible to state the actual cost of those products which are
manufactured at Izatnagar, and the question of revising their sale
prices can then be taken up, if necessary.
VIII.—GENERAL.
In conformity with the recommendations of the Royal Com-
mission on Agriculture, this Institute was placed directly under
the Government of India, in the Department of Education, Health
and Lands, from 12th October 1929, the date on which the post of
Agricultural Adviser to the Government of India was abolished,
and the Director has been declared Head of a Department.
The following distinguished visitors were welcomed at the
Institute during the year:—
Colonel A. Olver, C.B., C.M.G., Deputy Director of Veteri-
nary Services, Northern Command; Mr. N. C. Stiffe,
Commissioner of Kumaon Division; and Messrs. A. W.
Ibbotson and G. L. Vivian, Deputy Commissioner of
the Garhwal and the Naini Tal District, respectively.
Owing to its great inaccessibility this Institute is unfortunate
in not attracting as many distinguished visitors as it would like
to see,
Owing to the attenuated condition of the superior staff of the
Institute and the increasing demands made on it by the provinces,
Army Department and others, the year has been one of very great
stress, and it has only been possible to carry on owing to the great
energy and loyalty displayed by the whole staff, of whom it would
be invidious to single out for mention more than a very few.
The bulk of the technical work has fallen on Mr. Cooper, and
it is impossible to indicate on paper how much the Institute owes
to his unflagging enthusiasm and zeal. For the first 10 weeks of
12 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE IMPL. INST. OF VETY. RESEARCH,
the year he ran the whole of the administrative and technical work
of the Institute singlehanded, and it is no exaggeration to say that
this must have required an almost superhuman effort on his part.
Mention must also be made of the great assistance the Institute
has received from Mr. Rajagopal, Personal Assistant. His vast
experience of accounts matters and the energetic and cheerful
manner in which he has taken his place in the administration have
been of the greatest help to the Director.
To many at Muktesar the year will be remembered by the sad
event of the death of the late Captain A. J. Hearsey, V.D., Farm
Manager, from pneumonia, following a chill contracted during the
severe weather in December 1929. Before joining this Institute
in 1916 he had served for six years in the United Provinces Opium
Department, so that for nearly 20 years he had been a loyal and
faithful servant of the Government of this country.
It may be said of Captain Hearsey that he left no enemies
behind him in Muktesar, for his kindness of heart, straight-
forwardness, and sportsmanship appealed to everyone with whom
he had to deal. He was buried in a piece of consecrated ground
in the Reserved Forest in which he had laboured so long.
REPORT OF THE VETERINARY RESEARCH OFFICER,
MUKTESAR. (MR. H. COOPER, M.R.C.V.S.).
I.—RINDERPEST.
(1) Cataphoresis.—Preliminary experiments were started by
Mr. Menon with a view to finding out the iso-electric point of
Rinderpest virus by the methods employed by OLITSKY and
BOEZ (1927) in foot-and-mouth disease, but they had to be stopped
owing to a breakdown in the apparatus.
(2) Goat virus was maintained for serum-simultaneous inocula-
tion purposes throughout the year. Both the strains maintained
by direct passage from goat to goat and by alternate passage in
goats and hill bulls appeared to maintain a constant degree of
virulence for cattle, much below that of hill bull virus. Unfor-
tunately during the year the original " direct " strain which had
been maintained in goats alone since 1927 was accidentally lost.
During the year the Army Department decided to use only the
goat virus method for serum-simultaneous inoculations carried out
by them.
(3) Immunity following serum-simultaneous inoculations.—
Three cross-bred calves of the experimental herd previously immu-
nised with hill bull virus were tested for immunity during the
year. The interval was three years and all proved to be solidly
immune.
Two pairs of cross-bred cattle immunised as young calves by
the goat virus method were tested for immunity at 12 and 18
MUKTESAR, FOR THE YEAR ENDING THE 31ST MARCH, 1930.
13
months, respectively, by the injection of virulent hill bull virus
and the immunity in both pairs proved to be solid and complete.
(4) Infection by contact.—Small preliminary experiments
undertaken by placing susceptible hill bulls in contact with an
equal number of others during severe rinderpest reactions indicated
that natural infection by contact is much slower than would be
thought, and is not to be expected under circumstances where
contact occurs only for a limited and small number of days.
(5) The hill bull virus maintained at the Institute was found
to vary in virulence in the form of waves of exaltation and depres-
sion. The explanation has not been discovered. A virus that has
become apparently attenuated regains full virulence, however, by
continued passage. Four strains of virus were obtained from
"field" sources during one period of depression, namely from
Madras, Mysore and two from natural outbreaks in buffaloes in the
United Provinces. Each of them showed at first a slightly longer
incubation period than our routine strain, but by passage even-
tually each showed full virulence.
(6) Vaccination.—With the assistance of Mr. Menon a series of
three experiments were carried out upon the use of a vaccine pre-
pared from the lymphoid tissues of cattle killed at the height of
a rinderpest reaction and treated by chloroform. The method
detailed by KELSER (1928) was employed, and in the first experi-
ment, where the vaccine was injected four days after preparation
and a test of immunity was carried out after a month, the result
obtained can only be described as perfect. A second " brew ",
however, used 13 days after preparation gave indifferent results,
but indicated that a degree of immunity was set up. In the third
test different organs were employed separately and at varying
periods after preparation and the results again were imperfect, but
encouraging. The indications arrived at were that the vaccine as
prepared is definitely infective and immunity depends upon this
property. It is intended to continue work upon the preparation
of anti-rinderpest vaccines. Serum prepared from the vaccinated
animals used in these experiments proved to have no marked pro-
tective value upon test.
II.—ANTHRAX.
An interesting outbreak occurred in a Military Dairy Farm,
indicating that an unusual degree of resistance was shown by the
cattle, the intestinal form of the disease being exhibited.
III.—BLACKQUARTER.
It was not possible to take up research work, which is urgently
necessary, upon anaerobic infections of cattle owing to the lack
of a whole-time bacteriologist trained in this particular branch
of the work. In order to see if goats could be employed for the
testing of blackquarter products, their comparative susceptibility
with sheep was examined. Goats proved to be equally as sus-
B