68
Whenever reports of serious cattle disease reach me, an Imperial Salutri is sent to investigate and report, and
necessary precautions are carried out".
Bengal.
440. The large number of 215,891 cases of disease were reported in this
Province, of which 69,021 died, giving a percentage of 31.67. By far the
greatest number of cases were those of rinderpest, of which there were 60,044.
The death rate from this disease in 46 districts averaged 49.06 per cent.: this
is of interest, showing as it does the average mortality amongst plains cattle in
this disease.
441. The Superintendent, Civil Veterinary Department, makes the
following report on the subject of the method of reporting cattle disease in
Bengal :—
The figures have been compiled from the post-card reports. The system of reporting cattle disease on
post-cards by thana officers has proved to be a success, for, though it is not absolutely perfect, it is a very great
improvement upon the old system. The figures given appear to be large, but from my knowledge of some of
the districts, I believe that the actual number of cases reported is less than actually occurred. During the
year, I have very frequently felt the want of more Veterinary Assistants, and have been compelled to employ
senior students.
442. Rinderpest and Foot-and-Mouth disease appear to have been prevalent
in the vicinity of Calcutta.
EXPERIMENTS,
443. Good work, as usual, has been done in this direction by Veterinary
Major Raymond. On this point he reports: —
Rinderpest.— At the request of Mr. E. Keventer of the Aligarh Dairy Farm, I detailed a trained
Veterinary Assistant to inoculate the farm cattle with bile. The disease broke out on the 16th April, my
assistant arrived on the 3rd May, inoculation began on the 13th May, and the outbreak ceased on the
7th June.
The herd consisted of about 388 animals, 65 animals died before the inoculations, 15 died while the
inoculations were progressing, 6 develo ped the disease a few days after they had been inoculated, and 3
caught the disease about 10 months after the inoculation.
Altogether 291 animals, mostly cows, were inoculated; of these 70 buffaloes and 26 Zebu cows were in calf;
but none of them aborted as a result of the treatment. Six developed rinderpest after inoculation (3 died, 3
recovered). Five were possibly infected at the time of inoculation, but this does not apply to the sixth, which
was attacked 22 days after inoculation. In this case, the bile does not appear to have exercised much or any
immunising effect. Mr. Keventer thought that the outbreak had been stopped by the bile treament.
At the close of the official year, I enquired of Mr. Keventer, if an outbreak of rinderpest had occurred
since the inoculation. He answered in the affirmative, saying that three of the cattle inoculated in May 1899
had died of rinderpest in March 1900, and 10 animals, that had not been inoculated (presumably purchased
since the inoculations) had died of the disease. He says:—"it seems peculiar that the disease should stop
after so few cases " and " that the disease did not spread wider in the herd I consider must depend on the
inoculation." Taken alone, the cessation of the outbreak might be put down to a possible coincidence, but
as it follows upon the very searching test made with the Kanti cattle, I think it may be suggested that buffalo
bile is very often effective for not less than 10 months and probably for a longer period. (In the case of the
Kanti cattle it was effective for over 12 months.)
The misfortune is that the bile takes time to prepare in sufficient quantities, and also time to render
an animal immune after it is injected. On the other hand, there are objections to the preparation of serum
in Bengal. But the Imperial Bacteriologist now prepares anti-rinderpest serum of standardized strength
which may be considered free from all drawbacks, and I propose to experiment with it. For this purpose,
I have communicated with him and he has been kind enough to say that he will let me have a supply when
I want it.
Surra.—I have found that the trypanosoma of this disease are not infrequently present in the blood
of cattle in Lower Bengal.
Glanders.—Experiments seem to suggest that mallein cannot be relied upon to cure advanced cases,
nor as a preventive.
Other research work has been carried out at the Bengal Veterinary College during the year and duly
communicated to Government.
Bombay.
444. Reports were received from only 14 districts; they show only 5,466
attacked, which must, I think, go to prove that the system of reporting disease
is at fault.
445. Rinderpest was present in many districts, but specially severe in
Thana. The mortality from this disease was 56.43 per cent. The Superin-
tendent, when reporting on the mortality arising from this disease, states:—
"After visiting reported outbreaks myself and deputing thoroughly skilled veterinary graduates, I came
to the conclusion that during the past season a great many cases have been reported as rinderpest which
were nothing more than the result of feeding emaciated animals on green leaves and other deleterious fodder."
446. Anthrax was not very prevalent, but nearly 92 per cent. of the
cases attacked proved fatal.
447. I regret to find that the mortality from foot-and-mouth disease
amounted in some districts to over 30 per cent. This can only be accounted for
by the emaciated condition of the cattle.