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" (c) The remaining transport animals that continued No. 2 tank water till it became low
(when it was thought prudent to remove them to well water) did not show a single
case of the disease * * * *
" (e) Total disappearance of the disease since Nos. 1 and 3 tank water ceased to be used."
We shall refer to this argument in another part of the report.
12. Veterinary Surgeon (First-class) Frost distinctly recognizes exposure as a
predisposing cause, and the Transport Officers at Tonghoo attributed many cases to
" exposure when on public command at Thandoun in June " 1884.
13. The possibility of locality causing the disease was recognized ; accordingly
the Rangoon depot mules were in 1883 moved out of their lines on to the glacis of the
Pagoda Fort, to the Commissariat Bakery, and to Kokine with a view to getting rid
of it, and the Tonghoo mules were moved out several miles towards the frontier to
the sanitary or cholera camp.
14. The influence of advanced age in causing fatality was thus far noted that
" old age " was the verdict of many post-mortem examination boards at Tonghoo,
and is entered as the cause of a number of deaths at Rangoon. It is urged that
many of the mules sent from India to Burma were very old, and that thus many
veterans of Afghanistan—possibly of Abyssinia even—have found graves in Burma,
and, especially in the Tonghoo post-mortem reports, we constantly find it stated
that " the animal was evidently of very advanced age." I may remark, however,
that the disease alters the appearance of a mule very much and makes him look very
aged prematurely. Also the ages as given in the Tonghoo returns are obtained from
the evidence of the salootri, whose profession of being able to determine the exact
age of a mule up to twenty-five years led naturally to the belief that he knows very
little about the matter. Thus the returns of ages from Tonghoo must be considered as
relative rather than absolute.
15. A letter from the Officer Commanding the left half of the 2nd Bedfordshire
Regiment at Tonghoo (dated 29th December 1884, No. 740-84), expresses very well
the non-veterinary view of the influence of size, color, age, and sex in producing the
disorder. It says : " I have noticed that a larger proportion of first-class mules (i.e., over
13.2) have died from this disease than of the smaller ones, and that the small thick-set
mules in general appear to enjoy complete immunity. The oldest mules were the
first to be attacked, but the disease was by no means confined to them. I have noticed
that a greater proportion of gray and light-colored mules have died than of any other
colors. By far the greater number of mules which have died have been mares."
This evidence, of an officer who took great interest in his mules of regimental half
transport, is quite sustained by the views of the officers and non-commissioned officers
in charge of mules at Rangoon. The disproportionate loss of the larger mules was at
the latter place considered mainly due to the fact that only a large mule could
perform the fatiguing duty of carrying the enormous camel puckals which were then
in use in the station and have only recently been replaced by those proper for mules,
and it was urged that it would be difficult to prevent a puckal mule from having an
occasional draught from suspected or noxious tanks from which he was bringing water
for non-drinking purposes up the steep path of the pagoda hill, the journey being
performed frequently during the day and the animal much exposed to damp while at
the duty.
16. TREATMENT.—Of preventative measures the principal ones adopted were change
of locality and of sources of drinking-water supply, especially from tanks towells.
Curative means were tried, but in all cases ineffectually. Hyposulphite of soda,
salicylic and carbolic acids were the principal agents resorted to as a means of counter-
acting vegetable organisms acting locally on the mucous membrane of the stomach, as
was supposed to be the case. Conjee, white of egg, and other mucilaginous substances
were also given. Veterinary Surgeon (First-class) Frost says : " The treatment (which
I regret to add was entirely unsuccessful) consisted in the administration of astringent
medicines and demulcent nourishment." On my arrival at Rangoon, I at once, with
a view to studying the disease uncomplicated by the action of medicinal agents, stopped
the administration of carbolic acid.
17. Such are the facts which I have been able to collect concerning the know-
ledge of the disease before my arrival. I found eight cases on the sick list at first (on
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