June 25, 1896] 



NATURE 



171 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. 

 t The Editor does not hold himself responsible for opinions ex- 

 pressed by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake 

 to return, or to correspond with the writers of, rejected 

 manuscripts intended for this or any other part of NATURE. 

 No notice is taken of anonymous communications.^ 



Cattle Plague in Africa. 



The following extract from a report addressed by Captain F. 

 Lugard, C. B. , managing director and leader of the expedition 

 sent out by the British West Charlerland to work its mining 

 rights in Ngamiland, referring, as it does, to the outbreak of 

 cattle disease which now paralyses transport throughout South 

 Africa, may be of interest to the readers of Nature. 



There can now be little doubt that the present epidemic, 

 known under the common name of " rinderpest," is the same 

 as that with which we have been familiar in Central Africa for 

 the past six years, and for the inroad of which into South Africa 

 we ought long ago to have been prepared. 



Commencing, so far as we know, in Somaliland in 1889, 

 where the disease killed off a large part of the cattle, il passed 

 through Masailand in the autumn of 1S90. It was there that 

 Captain Lugard, then an officer of the Imperial British East 

 Africa Company, first came in contact with it. In 1891 he 

 again found it sweeping off the cattle in the countries to the 

 north and west of Uganda, of which province he was the 

 Administrator. In 1892 it invaded North Nyasaland, and the 

 Government were then duly warned of the double danger to 

 be apprehended from the free export of hides of diseased 

 animals, thousands of which were taken to America and to 

 Europe, and through the advance of the epidemic into South 

 Africa, should it cross the Zambesi and enter Bechuanaland. 



The great peculiarity of the present disease is that it attacks 

 not only domestic cattle, but also certain classes of wild animals, 

 chiefly the buffalo, giraffe, warthog, the eland, and several other 

 species of antelope. The elephant, the rhinoceros, and most of 

 the smaller antelopes seem not to be aft'ected, but in countries 

 •where it has appeared the destruction of cattle has been 

 general. 



The only accurate account of its previous ravages with which 

 I am acquainted is to be found in Captain Lugard's work on 

 "The Rise of our East African Empire," to which I would 

 refer those who may wish to foUov/ the course of the present 

 epidemic from Somaliland South to Nyasaland. 



Captain Lugard, writing from (iaberones, in Bechuanaland, 

 May 1 3, says : " The results of the ' rinderpest ' are here terribly 

 en h'idencc. Near villages, literally hundreds and thousands of 

 dead carcases lie about ; they are fouml under almost every 

 bush, and the stench is indescribable. I noticed that these car- 

 cases are being skinned by the natives, which means that the 

 hides will be smuggled into the colony, and perhaps exported. 

 I pointed this out yesterday to the magistrate here, and sug- 

 gested that parties of police should burn the bodies in field 

 cinerators, as fuel is abundant. lie told me traders were buy- 

 ing up the hides, and he would recommend their confiscation 

 and destruction by (lovernment." He adds further on : "The 

 magistrate told me that between here (Ciaberones) and Buluwayo 

 there are at least 4000 wagons stranded along the road (mostly 

 loaded), of which the ox teams are dead. A famine threatens 

 the country, for the ox is not only the food, but the money of 

 the natives, with which they buy grain, iVc. It is also their 

 agricultural agent, for they no longer use the hoe ; hence agri- 

 culture is at a standstill. The sole counterbalancing good is 

 that it will compel the natives to work on the railway, which 

 will now become a ' famine relief work." 



.As little is known of the nature of the disease — some who 

 have seen it in Central Africa classing it as a form of anthrax, 

 others as a sort of pleuropneumonia — I annex an account of 

 the chief symptoms as seen in the present epidemic in South 

 Africa. 



As regards the export of hides of diseased animals, to which 

 Captain Lugard refers, which has gone on freely, and, to a large 

 extent, from the Somali ports and from Zanzibar, I may remark 

 that all hides before shipment are there dipped in a solution of 

 arsenic and soda, which may, to a considerable extent, destroy 

 any poisonous germs they contain. 



The whole matter is now likely to be thoroughly worked out, 

 but it cannot but be regretted that an ini|niry was not instituted 



NO. 1 39 1, VOL. 54] 



several years ago, when so many favourable opportunities of 



doing so were presented both on the Zanzibar coast and in 

 Nyasaland. JOH\ Kirk. 



Sevenoaks, June 10. 



'■^Zambesi Cattle Fever or Rinderpest. 



" This is a feverish disease of typical rapid course, which spreads 

 by contagion and chiefly attacks cattle. Sheep, goats, and 

 game are less liable ; human beings, horses, mules, and donkeys 

 do not get it. A healthy animal which has come into contact 

 with a sick one usually shows the first symptoms of the disease 

 seven days after ; occasionally the period is considerably longer. 



"General symptoms are fever, weariness, uneasiness, rough 

 coat, failing appetite, increase of pulse and breathing, convulsive 

 trembling of skin, rapid emaciation, and decline of strength. 



" Special symptoms : One of the first and most constant is a 

 frequent short cough, and thin slimy, afterwards mattery, dis- 

 charge from the inflamed and swollen mucous membranes of the 

 nose, eyes, and even mouth On the third (rarely so soon 

 as the second) day diarrhcea sets in. The colour of the foeces 

 depends upon the character and degree of the inflammation of 

 the bowels. At the beginning they are still green, but quickly 

 become discoloured. Some animals evacuate grey-brown, some 

 a gelatine-like yellowish brown, and some cl.ay-like foetid ex- 

 crement : the dark colour is due to the presence of blood. From 

 the fourth or fifth day the foeces flow off involuntarily, and the 

 anus appears red and swollen. Sometimes small ulcers and sores 

 are visible on the mucous membrane of the lips, gums, and 

 cheeks, and on those parts of the skin which can be licked. 



" Diseased animals rarely succumb, earlier or later, than from 

 the fourth to the seventh day after the first symptoms have 

 become manifest. 



"Experience has always shown that medical treatment is of 

 no avail, but merely tends to spread the malady. It is there- 

 fore wisest and cheapest to destroy all animals affected at the 

 earliest possible moment, and all carcases, unskinned and com- 

 plete, should be burnt carefully or deeply buried. 



" The disease does not originate through influences, such as 

 cold and fog, dew" or rain, but is solely due to a vegetable para- 

 site, which is able to spread easily and rapidly. 



(Signed) " Otto Hennim;, 



"Government Veterinary Surgeon." 



" The foregoing is published for general information. It is 

 hoped that all will realise this great danger and the serious 

 losses which the spread of the pest would produce, and that all 

 will assist the authorities in extirpating it. 



(Signed) " F. T- Ne\vton, 



" Mafeking, March 16." "Resident Commissioner. 



The Electrical Resistance of Alloys. 



In reference to Lord Rayleigh's very interesting note in your 

 issue of June 18, we have, for several months, had preliminary 

 experiments in progress, with the object of educing practical 

 proof of the effects of thermo-electric currents upon the con- 

 ductivity of alloys ; but, owing to the stress of routine work in 

 our respective departments, the research was not sufficiently 

 advanced for publication. We had hoped, however, to be able 

 to read a short note immediately after the long vacation. 



About two years ago, one of us, who has been engaged in 

 observing the microscopic structure of alloys, was first led to the 

 conviction that the peculiar formation (so often met with) of 

 metallic crystals enmeshed in a network of other metallic 

 material must inevitably cause the production of thermo-electric 

 currents when a current was passed through the alloy-mass. 

 This, he believed, might account for the disproportionate effect 

 of traces of impurities upon the conductivity of pure metals, and 

 for the production of a curve (with percentages of impurity and 

 electrical resistance as coordinates) which, steep at first, 

 tended to become flatter as the percentage of impurity was 

 increased. Prof. Dewar's experiments on the conductivity of 

 pure metals, and of alloys at low temperatures, appeared to give 

 additional proof of the correctness of this surmise, as Lord 

 Rayleigh has pointed out. The pure metals, being perfectly 

 homogeneous, may have no resistance at the absolute zero of 

 temperature ; but if other substances be added, so that there is 

 produced the complex structure which the microscope shows the 



