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SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XX. No. 499. 



biology and the allied work, including ento- 

 mology, and the third in conjunction with 

 the preparation of serums. The aim of 

 these various divisions has been not only to 

 provide for the immediate necessities in 

 the way of chemical analysis, diagnostic 

 work for the hospitals and prisons, and the 

 preparation of prophylactic serums, for 

 which an urgent demand existed, but it has 

 also endeavored by its research work and 

 publications to help the government in its 

 knowledge of existing conditions, and to 

 point out methods for advancement, not 

 only in matters of hygiene, but in the de- 

 velopment of natural products and in the 

 study of diseases of men and of animals. 



As is well known, one of the most serious 

 problems which confronted the government 

 of the Philippine Islands was the loss en- 

 tailed by diseases of draft animals, which 

 in times past has been so serious as prac- 

 tically to paralyze agricultural industries 

 in certain districts. The laboratories were 

 called upon, not only to give advice as to 

 the best means of preventing the further 

 spread of these disastrous maladies, but 

 also to prepare for the elimination of dan- 

 gerous contagious diseases where they ex- 

 isted. Therefore, in January, 1903, as 

 soon as the serum laboratory was organized 

 as part of the bureau, ari insistent effort 

 was made to prepare larger quantities of 

 rinderpest serum, and to gather a corps of 

 veterinarians with their assistants, who 

 would be able to visit all parts of the archi- 

 pelago for the purpose of inoculating 

 against rinderpest the herds still remain- 

 ing. 



From a small beginning, with a few ani- 

 mals, the rinderpest serum herd has been 

 increased to a number varying from fifty 

 to seventy-five animals, according to the 

 needs of the service, and a steady supply 

 of non-immunes for the purpose of fur- 

 nishing virulent blood has been obtained 

 from Shanghai. The demands have been 



very large, for not only has serum been 

 furnished to the veterinarians in the 

 islands, but when the government decided 

 to purchase inoculated draft animals in 

 China for the purpose of restocking the 

 islands, the burden of the immunization 

 and hygienic care of the animals upon their 

 arrival in Manila at first was thrown en- 

 tirely on the laboratories, and the shipping 

 of at least one half the necessary serum to 

 Shanghai has been undertaken throughout 

 the life of the contract. 



The results in the islands have been most 

 gratifying. The veterinarians have met 

 with invariable success wherever they have 

 gone, and the conditions have become such 

 that rinderpest is non-existent in by far the 

 greater number of provinces, and it is easily 

 controlled in a short time wherever it re- 

 appears. The method of immunization 

 used has been that of simultaneous inocu- 

 lation. 



The demand for vaccine virus has been 

 very great, and the laboratories have been 

 compelled to purchase a large number of 

 calves for this purpose. These animals 

 have, as a rule, when their quality would 

 warrant, been sold to inhabitants intending 

 to engage in the raising of cattle,* and in 

 that way, after having been used for vac- 

 cine purposes, they are of continued benefit 

 in the restocking of the archipelago. Of 

 course all of these animals are immunized 

 against rinderpest before leaving the insti- 

 tution. Plague prophylactic has been sup- 

 plied to the board of health in quantities 

 sufficient for all purposes, and its effectual 

 use has been one factor in bringing down 

 the number of plague eases to such a de- 

 gree that the Philippine Islands may now 

 be declared to be practically free from this 

 disease. The rats caught by the board of 

 health were examined for plague in the 

 biological laboratory, and the results ob- 



* Tuberculosis has never been encountered in 

 examining the calves used at the laboratory. 



