466 Chapter XV 



[488] from being so rare in Germany as was, at one time, generally sup- 

 posed. During the year 1899 its presence was demonstrated, by the 

 experimental method, in 206 dogs coming from various districts. It 

 is in Silesia, Western Prussia, and Posen that rabies in dogs has been 

 observed most frequently. 



Antirabic vaccinations have also been performed on herbivorous 

 animals (sheep, goats, cattle, and horses) which are immunised by 

 means of injections of the rabic virus into the veins, according to the 

 method suggested by Nocard and Roux 1 , as the result of experi- 

 ments made by Galtier 2 . 



IV. Vaccinations against rinderpest. For some time attempts 

 were made to find a means of immunising the Bovidae and other 

 ruminants, susceptible to rinderpest, against this terrible disease, 

 which causes great ravages in regions where it is endemic and greater 

 still in those regions where it only appears in epidemic form. The 

 good results obtained from " clavelisation " suggested the idea of 

 immunising against rinderpest by the inoculation of the rinderpest 

 virus, but all such attempts gave unsatisfactory results, the inocula- 

 tion setting up a rinderpest as grave, and often as fatal as the natural 

 disease. Only in recent years have we succeeded in elaborating 

 methods of vaccination really capable of coping effectively with 

 rinderpest. Koch 3 went to Cape Colony, where this disease had 

 recently appeared and had caused enormous losses, with the intention 

 of finding a practical method of arresting the scourge. In spite 

 of his technique and incomparable skill he was as unsuccessful in 

 finding the parasite of rinderpest as had been other investigators. 

 The micro-organism of this disease remains unknown. It was 

 necessary, however, to seek a remedy against it. Koch, studying 

 the properties of the bile of animals that had died from rinderpest, 

 recognised that the injection of this bile into normal animals con- 

 ferred upon them a fairly certain immunity, and this fact served as 

 the basis on which to work out a practical method of combating 

 rinderpest on a large scale. At first this method was received with 

 [489] much enthusiasm, but experience soon demonstrated the incon- 

 veniences it often presented. Kolle and Turner 4 , who continued the 



1 Ann. de FInst. Pasteur, Paris, 1888, t. n, p. 341. 



2 Compt. rend. Acad. d. sc., Paris, 1881, t. xcin, p. 284. 



3 Deutsche med. Wchnschr., Leipzig, 1897, SS. 225, 241. 



4 Ztschr.f. Hyg., Leipzig, 1898,' Bd. xxnc, S. 309. 



