210 



INFECTIVE DISEASES. 



The vaccine is supplied, by a company in Paris, in two strengths. 

 Reports are supplied by veterinary surgeons, and the results have 

 been tabulated by Chamberland and published, and commented upon 

 by Cope in a report to the Board of Agriculture (1894). The column 

 of deaths, in the above table, includes the animals which died from 

 the vaccination, and those which died from natural infection. 



It is claimed that the percentage of losses has been reduced from 

 10 per cent, to '94 per cent, in sheep, and from 5 per cent, to '34 per 

 cent, in cattle. Cope, in the report just referred to, regards these 

 conclusions as somewhat fallacious, because in order to prove that 

 the animals inoculated received immunity, it should be shown that 

 they were subsequently exposed to the risks of natural infection. 

 This was not the case. But a report obtained from the Bureau in 

 Paris gives the actual number of animals on each of the infected 

 farms, and the number which have died of the disease ; and when 

 compared with Ohamberland's statistics it is evident that nine-tenths 

 were not on farms where the disease appeared — at least, during 

 1889-92 — and that the deaths from anthrax on those farms where 

 it was reported to exist were, if anything, higher than they were 

 supposed to be prior to the introduction of the system of vaccination ; 

 and in spite of the immense number of animals vaccinated the 

 official returns obtained from Paris, by Cope, indicate that the 

 mortality from anthrax, calculated in the ordinary way, remains as 

 high as ever. 



Anthrax in France. 



