Departmental activities. 207 



VETERINARY EDUCATION AND RESEARCH. 



The inoculation of the first batch of private horses against horse- 

 sickness, referred to in our last issue, has passed off very successfully ; 

 108 horses, belonging to 48 owners, were accepted for inoculation, and 

 two only died as a result of the inoculation. This is considered 

 extremely satisfactory, and it is hoped that future tests w^ill pass off 

 equally well. 



In this connection a few interesting facts may be recorded. The 

 conditions under which horses are accepted for inoculation state very 

 definitely that horses showing any sign of an infectious disease will 

 be returned to the owners. In spite of this, no less than 77 of the 

 108 horses were affected with mange and about 90 per cent, of the 

 total number carried ticks, some of them being literally covered with 

 these parasites. In its dealings with farmers, this Division has 

 always been particularly anxious to give no cause for complaint. In 

 seme instances, however, where a farmer thought he had a grievance 

 against any officer of the Division, very full use was made of the 

 opportunity of censuring the Department. But here we have an 

 instance where the Division has every reason to be dissatisfied with 

 the treatment it has received at the hands of the farmers. In some 

 cases the owner may have been unaware of the fact that his animals 

 were infected with mange, but many cases point to gross negligence. 

 It is not in a spirit of retaliation that these facts are recorded 

 here, but rather with the idea of warning owners who intend sending 

 horses for future inoculations. Naturally these horses cannot be 

 stabled separately; they all stand together in one or two large stables. 

 It is therefore impossible to prevent clean horses from getting in 

 direct or indirect contact with infected ones. If such horses are 

 returned to the owners infected with mange, the blame will probably 

 again be laid on the Government ! 



The very serious outbreak of horse-sickness in the Herbert 

 district, mention of which has repeatedly been made in the papers 

 recently, was investigated by this Division. The point at issue was 

 wl ether it was actually horse-sickness or possibly some other disease. 

 A private veterinary surgeon who examined a few cases expressed the 

 idea that it was pernicious (infectious) anaemia. An officer of this 

 Division was sent to investigate the matter, and further tests were 

 then carried out at this laboratory. As a result of these experiments, 

 it can now be stated definitely that there is absolutely no doubt that 

 the disease is horse-sickness. The investigations (that are still in 

 progress) seem further to prove definitely that it is horse-sickness 

 onh/ . 



The anthrax spore vaccine has now been issued in very large 

 quantities. In a small percentage of cases complaints came in about 

 the swellings already referred to. Some owners also complained of 

 the fact that dairy cows yielded less milk for some days after inocula- 

 tions. Steps have been taken to reduce these occurrences to a 

 minimum. Many farmers who used the spore vaccine wrote to the 

 laboratory testifying to the very good results. In some instances, 

 animals that actually showed signs of anthrax at the time of inocula- 

 tion are reported to have recovered. In other cases, where very 

 serious outbreaks had occurred on farms, deaths stopped two or three 

 days after inoculation. 



