196 FiEFuRT S.A. A. Advaxckmkxt of Sciknxk. 



the coast, and further iiKjuiry might have placed Iihn in possessiuu of im- 

 portant information which would have made the record of liis researches 

 a guide instead of a stumbling-block to future investigators. 



From 1898 until 1901 the disease attracted no special attention, 

 but from information now in our j^ossession we have good reasons for 

 believing that infected cattle from German East Africa were landed at 

 Beira sometime prior to the month of November, 1901, and were for- 

 warded at once by rail to Umtali, where some were disposed of to local 

 butchers, and others sent on to 8alisbury, and in both of these places 

 they weve turned out to graze on the town commonage. As a con- 

 sequence both commonages became infected, but the subsequent mor- 

 tality attracted no special attention as it was at first by no means 

 heavy, and the deaths which occurred were attributed to gall sickness 

 and ordinary Texas fever, and it was only after the advent of a ship- 

 ment of Australian cattle, imported by Mr. Rhodes, that public interest 

 became aroused thereby. These cattle, which suffered considerably at 

 Beira from ordinary Texas fever by reason of their accidental detention 

 there on account of a washaway on the railway line, and which were 

 removed thence to the Umt&,li commonage at the first opportunity, 

 practically died out there from what was believed to be redwater and 

 gall sickness. As these cattle, however, were kept b}' themselves apart 

 from other stock, their decease was attributed to their inability to 

 accommodate themselves to the climatic conditions in which they were 

 placed : but the following sununer, when local cattle began to graze 

 over the area upon which the Australian cattle had died, the}' too 

 began to die off, and at the same time there was a notable rise in 

 the death-rate amongst the cattle on the Salisbury commonage as well, 

 principall}'^ amongst certain loot cattle recently brought up from the 

 Free State ; but as Fi-ee State cattle were notoriously susceptible to 

 redwater no one at first thought much about it. 



At this time I was in charge of the Rhodesian veterinar}' depart- 

 ment, and on the occasion of a visit to the Penhalonga Valle}', near 

 Umtali, in wdiich cattle had also began to die, both GoAcrnment 

 Veterinary Suigeon Jarvis and myself were struck by the remarkable 

 aspect of the kidneys in several of the post inortems which we made 

 there. These organs, particularly in cases of some standing, presented 

 a most peculiar appearance, being studded with infarcts from about the 

 size of a pea downwards, which stood up from the surface of the 

 organs, generally paler than the surrounding tissue, but occasionall}' 

 suffused with blood and haemorrhagic. A careful search of all acces- 

 sil)le literature on the subject of Texas fever failed to re^■eal any 

 reference to lesions of this character ; but as these were not invariably 

 present, and as some of the animals on post mortem showed nothing 

 more than the ordinary clinical lesions of Texas fever, as described by 

 Smith and Kill>ourne, the kidney lesions were at first regaixled as 

 being probably accidental. A little later, after my return to Salis- 

 bury, successive post mortems on numei'ous cattle dying on the Salis- 

 bury commonage re\p;ded the existence of other hitherto undescribed 

 lesions, notably a \ ery severe pulmonar}' oedema and attendant emphy- 



