238 



and at Bondarewka have sliown that the Kirghis and south steppe breeds are 

 less disposed to contagion than others. 



8. Do all cattle of a herd take sick at the outbreak of the rinderpest 1 

 This is the case sometimes ija the northern part of Russia, but hardly ever in 



the southern part. 



9. Is the vaccine matter of the rinderpest mitigated by successive generations 

 of the disease ? 



Some cases have been very favorable to mitigation, but the latest experiments 

 have shown that no mitigation of the effect of the vaccine matter took place 

 even in the fifteenth generation. Therefore, in accordance with these results, 

 mitigation of vaccine matter of the rinderpest cannot be expected. (Professor 

 Jessen is against this conclusion.) 



10. How long does vaccine matter of the rinderpest preserve its power of 

 contagion, and has old vaccine matter the same effect as fresh matter 1 



The experiments made so far have not produced any positive results in de- 

 termining the length of time that vaccine matter will preserve its vitality. .In 

 some cases the vaccine matter lost its effect in several days, but in others it 

 maintained the same after eleven months. It is therefore remarked that the 

 duration of the effect of vaccine matter depends considerably upon the manner 

 of preservation. Experiments have shown, as far as the difference in effect 

 between fresh and old vaccine matter is concerned, that vaccination with fresh 

 vaccine matter generally causes a severe sickness, but vaccination with old 

 vaccine matter a slight illness, and in some cases that it is without any effect. 



11. Does vaccination of the rinderpest always preserve the animal from a 

 repeated attack of the plague? 



Animals Avhich show strong characteristic marks of the rinderpest after 

 vaccination certainly will not again contract the disease, but those which show 

 light symptoms of the sickness after vaccination are not always safe from a 

 repeated attack. 



12. How long can an animal be considered safe after being vaccinated ? 

 The results obtained do not render it certain how long this immunity will 



last ; perhaps it will extend through the whole life of the animal, but our ex- 

 periments only reach up to six years. 



After reading the opinions of the president, and of the members, Jessen and 

 Rawitsch, concerning the question what resolutions the committee should 

 adopt in regard to vaccination in the rinderpest, the committee resolved : 



1. To discontinue the vaccinating institutions at Bondarewka and Salmysche. 



2. To publish a report of the vaccinations of the rinderpest in Russia in the 

 Russian and French languages. 



3. To request the government to make the necessary appropriations to the 

 veterinary institutions of the government for making further investigations of 

 the rinderpest and other epidemic diseases of animals by experiments, and by 

 sending skilful veterinary surgeons to epidemic localities. 



4. The government has no right to recommend the introduction of the vacci- 

 nations of the rinderpest as a preservative against the extension of the same in 

 accordance with the established results of the experiments. Yet the committee 

 permit the owners of cattle to establish vaccinating institutions in the steppe 

 countries afrer having obtained the consent of adjoining neighbors, but in such 

 places only as are remote from cattle roads, and upon condition that the insti- 

 tutions are superintended by skilful veterinary surgeons. They must also be 

 erected in accordance with the plan adopted by the director of the Central 

 Veterinary Institute. * 



5. All veterinary surgeons are obliged to make reports to the director of the 

 Central Veterinary Institute of their experiments in vaccination of the rinder- 

 pest. 



