September 15, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



327 



UNTVEBSITY OF MISSOURI. 



Francis Potter Daniels : ' The Flora of Colum- 

 bia, Missouri and Vicinity. An Ecological and 

 Systematic Study of a Local Flora.' 



THE ADVANCE OF OUR KNOWLEDGE OF 



THE CAUSATION AND METHODS OF 



PREVENTION OF STOCK DISEASES 



IN SOUTH AFRICA DURING THE 



LAST TEN YEARS. 



II. 



B. PARASITE UNKNOWN. 



I. Rinderpest. 



We now turn our attention to the impor- 

 tant diseases of the second group. In these 

 the parasites causing them are unknown — 

 that is to say, no parasites can be detected 

 by the microscope or by culture — but it is 

 equally true that they must be present in 

 the blood and fluids of the sick animals in 

 some form or other. In all probability 

 they are ultra-microscopic — too small to be 

 seen with our present instruments. This 

 is borne out by the fact that they are able 

 to pass through the pores of porcelain 

 filters, which keep back the smallest micro- 

 organisms we are able to recognize. 



The first of the second group of diseases 

 is rinderpest, which has overrun and dev- 

 astated South Africa within the last ten 

 years. 



Rinderpest has been known from time 

 immemorial in Europe and Central Asia, 

 and is an exceedingly fatal disease, killing 

 90 to 100 per cent, of the cattle attacked. 



The recent epidemic, according to some, 

 originated in the Nile provinces, and slowly 

 crept southwards, reaching the Transvaal 

 in 1896, after a journey lasting some fifteen 

 years. Great efforts were made to oppose 

 its passage, but nothing seemed to avail. 

 In parts of the country where there were 

 few or no cattle the epidemic spread by 

 means of the wild animals— particularly 

 the buffalo — which have been exterminated 

 in many places. 



Ten years ago the symptoms and con- 

 tagious nature of this disease were well 

 known, but nothing was known as to meth- 

 ods of prevention, and it is to the investi- 

 gation of this epidemic in South Africa 

 that the discovery of practical methods of 

 immunizing cattle, and in this way of 

 stamping out the disease, is due. 



As soon as it was apparent that the epi- 

 demic was spreading into South Africa, all 

 the colonies made strenuous efforts to com- 

 bat it. The Transvaal government invoked 

 the aid of the Pasteur Institute, and Messrs. 

 Bordet and Danysz were sent out to dis- 

 cover some method of prevention. They 

 w^orked near Pretoria, and were assisted by 

 Dr. Theiler, then the principal veterinary 

 surgeon. Before they arrived on the scene 

 the Natal government had despatched Mr. 

 "Watkins-Pitchford, their principal veteri- 

 nary surgeon, to the Transvaal, where he 

 also at first had Dr. Theiler as his colleague, 

 and where he did some good pioneer work 

 in the serum therapeutics of the disease. 

 In the Cape Colony Dr. Hutcbeon, the prin- 

 cipal veterinary surgeon, and Dr. Eding- 

 ton, the government bacteriologist, were no 

 less active. It is, however, to Professor 

 Robert Koch, of Berlin, that the honor is 

 undoubtedly due of first publishing a prac- 

 tical method of immunizing cattle against 

 rinderpest. He arrived at Kimberley on 

 December 5, 1896, and in the incredibly 

 short space of time of two months was able 

 to report two methods of immunizing, viz., 

 by the injection of rinderpest bile, and, 

 secondly, by the injection of serum from 

 immune animals. I have always thought 

 that the discovery that the injection of bile 

 taken from an animal dead of rinderpest 

 rendered cattle immune was particularly 

 brilliant. Up to that time no one had 

 dreamt that bile could possess such a qual- 

 ity. It is true that both Transvaal and 

 Orange Free State Boers are said to have 



