March i908.] 



223 



LIVE STOCK. 



VETERINARY NOTES. 



Rinderpest. 



1. Next to the prevention of rinder- 

 pest, its treatment is one of the most 

 important and interesting subjects in 

 Veterinary Science. But a method which 

 serves both as a preventive and curative 

 of this fatal cattle disease is certainly of 

 paramount importance in bovine thera- 

 peutics. 



2. In India the inoculation of anti- 

 rinderpest serum which is reputed to have 

 this double effect, is coming into general 

 usejandMajor Rogers, the Indian Military 

 Surgeon, in the course of his evidence 

 before the Royal Commission on Vivisec- 

 tion, stated last year that he made 

 arrangements for turning out 100,000 

 doses of this serum for use among Indian 

 cattle. 



3. The injection of glyeerinated bile 

 has also the two-fold benefit of being a 

 prophlylactic and curative, but it is 

 found that in India this method could 

 not make any headway, owing to the 

 deep-rooted prejudice of the native 

 population against the destruction of 

 cattle for the purpose of obtaining bile. 

 Hence the advantage of the anti-rinder- 

 pest serum for general use in India. This 

 fact applies with almost equal force to 

 Ceylon too. 



4. The last number of the Veterinary 

 Journal to hand, viz., that of February, 

 1908, states that the annual out-put of 

 this serum in India is 300,000 doses. 



5. Of course, the preparation of this 

 serum requires a properly equipped La» 



boratoryanda special staff, and it may 

 in the near future, form a subject for con 

 sideration whether advantage cannot be 

 taken of the De Soysa Bacteriological 

 Institute for this purpose, 



6. With regard to the treatment of 

 rinderpest, I have to note that quinine 

 given in dram doses at the very outset 

 will go a great way towards mitigating 

 the disease. About eight ounces of 

 Epsom salt should be combined with the 

 first one or two doses of quinine ad- 

 ministered during the stage of constipa- 

 tion. 



FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE. 



7. With regard to foot-and-mouth 

 disease, it is worthy of note that this 

 disease assumes a mild form in India and 

 Ceylon, whereas in Great Britain it is 

 more virulent and fatal. But in and 

 near a dairy, foot-and-mouth disease is a 

 serious thing in Ceylon, too, and milk 

 tainted with the virus of this disease is 

 positively harmful, especially to children. 

 It is, therefore, a wise precaution to scald 

 milk before use when foot-and-mouth 

 disease is reported in the vicinity. 



8. The February number of the British 

 Medical Journal speaks of a serious and 

 somewhat alarming outbreak of foot-and- 

 mouth disease among dairy cattle in 

 Edinburgh. A herd of nearly 200 cows 

 was destroyed as soon as 30 of them were 

 found affected, and the owner of the 

 infected herd will, it is said, have to be 

 compensated to the extent of something 

 like £4,000 



E- T. HOOLE. 



