, 1888-04-06
PASTEUR AND THE RABBITS.
An Attempt to Rid Australia of Its Pest
Some Doubtful Experiments.

Al AtNehlpt TO blo Aubtrhllh OF ltB rest
Some Doubtful Experiments.
The offer Of a reward Of EOS, 900 by
the government of New South Wales to
any N who should find a new and eff
fective method Of discriminating the
swarming rabbits of Australia caused NJ.
Pasteur to suggest the introduction of
chicken cholera by means Of the microbe
of shat disease. The reward was offered
in November last. AT first NJ. Pasteur
did not intend to compete for the prize.
He afterward came to the conclusion that
the money could be well used for the
support of the Pasteur Institute, and in
a letter to the agents general of the Aus
tralian colonies he formally put his name
on the list of competitors.
Since November last, when NJ. Pasteur
published in LIE Temps, of Paris, a de-
scription of the method which he pro-
posed to use, he has made some interest
ing experiments upon rabbits in France.
Some time ago the owner of several
famous vineyards near Rheims deter
mined to breed wild rabbits in one of
them which covered twenty acres and
was surrounded by high walls. The
animals multiplied rapidly, and the ex-
cavations which they made began to en-
croach upon extensive vaults where
champagne was stored. The proprietor
applied to NJ. Pasteur for relief, and he
fed the rabbits with the microbes of
chicken cholera. On the following day
all of them were dead.
When NJ. Pasteur's assistants arrive IN
Australia they will find that experiments
like his were made there before his sug-
gestions were published in LIE Temps.
The disease which an Australian scientist
nroDOCea IN introduce 10 mot howayar
chicken cholera, but rabbit scab or itch.
The Adelaide Register published in No
vember a report written for the crown
lands department of South Australia by
Professor Watson, of the University of
Adelaide, concerning an inquiry made by
him with reference to the cultivation of
this disease. Professor Watson asserts
that scab is not communicated from rab-
bits to men, dogs, horses or cattle, and
his experiments prove, he thinks, that it
is not communicated to sheep. He asks
the government TO permit him to con-
tinue his experiments on some island set
apart for the purpose. But other authori-
ties in Australia are of the opinion that
sheep would be endangered if the disease
should be used for the determination of
rabbits. Although Professor Watson was
carefully guarding his infected rabbits,
it appears that other persons had already
undertaken to spread the disease, for in
The Adelaide Observer of Dec. 81 a cor
respondent writes: Steamers have been
taking diseased rabbits up the river for
distribution, and scab has since broken
out among the cattle at Blanchetown and
is spreading rapidly"
The evil for which a remedy is sought
is n great one. The rabbits threaten to
put an end to farming and sheep raising
in great tracts of country. The colony
of New South Wales alone paid more
than 81, 500, 900 last year for the de-
struction of rabbits. 1t has also built n
wire fence A feet high and 203 miles long
for protection on the line of its western
boundary, and it is proposed that
So, 900, 600 shall be expended in extend
ing this barrier. The experience of one
land owner may be cited as showing that
the public expenditures are but a small
part of the cost of dealing with the nui-
sance. After spending 5000, 900 in vain
attempts to clear his land he was forced
to give up farming.
While the introduction of chicken
cholera might sweep away the rabbits,
there is danger nat ii would at the same
time kill all the birds, and that cattle
and sheep and even human beings might
suffer in some way from the pestilence.
If NJ. Pasteur's method should be adopted
the animals would at least gain the priv
ilege Of dying peacefully. 1t is said hat
fowls, when attacked by the disease,
''curl themselves up into a ball and drop
into a deep sleep, which ends in a pain
less death" The Australians now kill
millions of rabbits every year by the use
of steel traps, arsenic, strychnine N
phosphorus, so that the suffering of the
victims is intense.-New York Times.