— (Ate ee i — | Cl _—s a. ™ ee. yk Millie 
578 
experimental work has also been curtailed. However, within the past 
two years two regions in the Islands. where cattle are obtainable and 
where rinderpest has never been observed, have been discovered, namely, 
Sibuyan Island and the Babuyanes group, and from these islands rela- 
tively non-immune animals have been secured for use although, even with 
these sources of supply, such a large quantity of virulent blood has been 
required for the production of serum, and the expense of experimenta- 
tion with cattle has been so great, that the material available for in- 
vestigation has been small. Nevertheless, some work has been done 
and some observations made which seem to be of sufficient interest to 
publish, even though they do not in all ways tend to support the prev- 
alent opinions of the nature of the virus. ‘ 
ETIOLOGY. 
Rinderpest is a widely distributed disease. The original location 
from which the infection has spread will doubtless never be ascertained, 
for although European historians of the middle ages mention similar 
infections, no evidence exists of accurate observations in Asia or Africa 
in early times. Dieckerhoff’s treatise on the history of the disease 
details what is known in regard to its early occurrence, from which it 
seems probable that its original home was in the neighborhood of the 
Black Sea and of the Volga, whence, in the course of years, it was in- 
troduced into western Europe; following this, Prussia and the Danube 
States, Hungary, Croatia, and Italy were attacked ; Switzerland, France, 
Holland, and England remaining free. Later still, with the appearance 
of railroads and the possibility of rapid transportation, epidemics  be- 
‘ame common in western Europe, and even England, Germany, and 
France suffered severely. With the opening of Africa, India, China, and 
the islands of the Eastern Archipelago, the disease was also observed 
in this portion of the world and likewise introduced into virgin lands, 
so that in the many parts of Africa, Asia, certain islands of the Malay 
Archipelago and most of the Philippine islands, rinderpest is endemic 
and subject to sudden outbreaks. Climate undoubtedly has little in- 
fluence on its spread. It does not “give way before cold weather or 
rain;” it is, Gelach and Littlewood say, more severe in cold and wet 
weather than in warm and dry and Emes maintains that “it spreads as 
fast in a cold as in a hot season.” 
However, moisture surely has an influence on both the viability of the 
virus and the spread of the infection so that moist or rainy seasons 
undoubtedly favor the dissemination of the disease. 
Gamgee states that age exerts no influence on the susceptibility of an 
animal to rinderpest and quotes Kersting as saying that, as a result of 
inoculation, young calves and cows suffer most severely; lean or fat oxen 
are also badly affected, while animals in moderate condition and at 
