266 REMOUNT SYSTEMS OF FOREIGN ARMIES. 



VACCINATION. 



Vaccination is practiced for two diseases only, viz, anthrax 

 and tetanus (lockjaw). The first is so rarely observed in the 

 army that veterinary statistics hardly ever mention it, and 

 vaccination for it is therefore rarely employed. AVhen it is, 

 the spring is the most favorable time, as vaccination then 

 gives immunity during the summer, at which season the 

 anthrax is most likely to appear. 



Against tetanus, as a measure of prevention, vaccination 

 is regularly recommended to army veterinarians and is con- 

 stantly practiced in cases of wounds, etc., in parts of the 

 animal's body which experience has shown to lead to lock- 

 jaw, the most frequent causes being castration and nail 

 in the hoof. The serum employed comes directly from the 

 Pasteur Institute in Paris. Before using the serum, the 

 veterinarian should assure himself of its perfect clearness; 

 he then makes two subcutaneous injections of 10 cubic cen- 

 timeters each on the neck or behind the shoulder of the animal. 

 The first injection is made at the moment the operation is 

 performed, or as soon as possible after the traumatic condition 

 is observed. A second injection is made 8 or 10 days later. 

 The veterinarian should not, because he has used the pre- 

 ventive serum, neglect also to treat the wounds aseptically 

 till cured. 



The results obtained with this tetanus serum in France have 

 been very satisfactory theoretically and practically ; the dis- 

 ease has become more and more rare, and some military instal- 

 lations which had grown to be considered as veritable tetanus 

 breeders have been entirely cleaned of the disease. 



There is also employed more and more each day in the army 

 a therapeutic anti-tetanus serum, but while the results have 

 thus far been encouraging, it is not yet possible to say to what 

 extent they have been due to the serum and to what extent to 

 the therapeutic treatment concurrently employed. 



While these are the only vaccinations employed in the vet- 

 erinary practice of the army, it may be added, as a matter of 

 interest, that in France they now begin to employ an "anti- 

 streptococique" serum in affections of dropsy and erysipelas; 

 this, however, is, strictly speaking, a therapeutic method and 

 not vaccination. 



