552 REPORT—1905. 
characterised as a vital defect the omission in the International Health Con- 
vention of Paris, 1903, of provision for the inter-State notification of the occurrence 
of plague amongst rodents, except when associated with cases of the disease 
in man, 
3. Leprosy in South Africa. By Dr. 8. Brack, 
JOHANNESBURG. 
TUESDAY, AUGUST 29. 
The President delivered his Address (see p. 533), after which the following 
Papers were read :— 
1. Rinderpest : its Prevention and Cure. By Hon. Grorce Turner. 
Rinderpest first appeared south of the Zambesi in 1896, It was probably 
transmitted from the Soudan. In England, in 1865, destruction of infected herds 
alone produced any good effect. The disease was imported into Hull in May 1865, 
and was recognised in the metropolis in the following July. By December 30 
9,753 farms were infected. An order to destroy was made on May 9, 1866, and 
by the following November the disease was stamped out. Slaughtering in Cape 
Colony was recommended by Mr. Hutcheon, and his opinion was supported 
by Professor Flemming. It undoubtedly was productive of good, inasmuch as it 
temporarily arrested the disease and afforded time for Professor Koch to introduce 
the bile method of immunisation (February 1899). 
The signs and symptoms of rinderpest were briefly sketched. 
Dr. Koch and others failed to demonstrate the specific organism. The claim 
of Messrs. M. Nencke, N. Sieber, and Wyznikiewiez to have done so was dis- 
cussed. The organism, however, must be of sufficient size to be visible under the 
powers usually used in such investigations, and is probably intracorpuscular. The 
various excretions, also the hides of animals dead of the disease, soon lose their 
infectivity. 
Professor Koch’s bile method was described, and its utility demonstrated, its 
defects and limitations being discussed. The theory that bile inoculation can 
spread the disease was considered, and reasons for supposing that it is not well 
founded given. 
The glycerinated bile method was described and condemned. 
The method used to produce a powerful serum capable of immunising cattle and 
curing the disease in the early stage was detailed, also the Kimberley process, 
i.e., the simultaneous inoculation of virulent blood and immunising serum, The 
results obtained may be summarised as follows :— 
Amongst infected herds there were 3,318 animals: 1,077 were known to be 
sick of the disease. Serum was used; 2,857 recovered—a saving of 86:1 per cent. 
The simultaneous method was employed on 10,407 animals. The resulting 
loss was 136, or 1°3 per cent. 
The nature of the substance contained in the serum was discussed. In vitro 
it has little power. In corpore, provided that the serum bears a certain pro- 
portion to the body-weight, the amount of blood injected to produce the necessary 
specific fever is of no consequence ; 2,000 c.c. do not produce a greater effect than 
0-2 c.c. of virulent blood. The method of inoculation used probably resulted in 
a saving of 986,518 animals. Four thousand four hundred and seventy-two litres 
of serum were issued from the Kimberley Rinderpest Station, sufficient to immune 
203,600 animals; the serum sold readily at 77. 10s. per litre. 
