Onchocerciasis in Cattle and Associated Animals. ( .t 



purpose, being conducted at the best chiefly by native veterinai'y 

 ■officers watching for specific diseases, under the general super- 

 vision of a fully qualified European Veterinary officer who, however, 

 has not only a very extensive area to control in this respect, but 

 has also charge of all matters affecting the health of the animal 

 population of the district, and has often to combat outbreaks of 

 disease under considerable difficulties. In the ordinary abattoirs 

 the animals are often killed between midnight and 1 a.m., and 

 are taken away almost immediately for consumption, after cur- 

 sory examination for certain diseases, so that the parts of the 

 carcass concerned in this question are very rarely examined. This, 

 added to the method of killing used, made any personal investiga- 

 tion neither easy nor pleasant. A somewhat similar condition as 

 regards detailed inspection is normally found in the special 

 abattoirs attached to meat drying Factories, which supply the 

 trade to Burma more especially. In these, however, in some places 

 more buffalo than bullocks are killed, and from these evidence 

 was obtained, though no nodules could be found in the carcasses 

 present at the time of my visit in one of these which I was able to 

 visit personally. 



The religious importance of the cow to the Hindu, to whom this 

 animal is most sacred, gives rise to further difficulties in the way 

 of such investigations — even in Serum Institutes and Research 

 Laboratories, the animals appear to be less frequently killed than in 

 many similar institutions elsewhere, while at the various Veterinary 

 Schools and Hospitals, even if their native Hindu owners allow 

 the animals to remain there to die, permission to make post- 

 mortem examinations can very rarely be obtained. However, 

 through the courtesy of the Department of Revenue and Agriculture 

 of the Government of India, official circulars were sent to all Local 

 Governments and Administrations, requesting that the resources of 

 the Civil Veterinary Department should be enlisted in this question. 

 Circulars were also sent to Sanitary Commissioners and to Health 

 Officers, as these sometimes control the meat inspection, and I was 

 .able to visit personally a considerable number of Districts. 



In Burma the Superintendent of the Civil Veterinary Depart- 

 ment (Colonel G. H. Evans) reports that these worm-nodules '"are 

 pretty frequently present in oxen and buffaloes," but no details are 

 forthcoming : in Assam, " they have not been observed "; similarly 

 in Bengal. From Bihar and Orissa no information is available. 

 In the Madras presidency, the Civil Veterinary Superintendent (Mr. 

 Ware) was able to secure for me on two occasions specimens from 



