August, 1911.] 



133 



Live Stock. 



made to carry it out on a fairly extensive 

 scale. Von Behring, Rossignal and 

 Vallee have been working at it, and 

 lately M. S. Arloing ( Veterinary Journal, 

 June, 1910) has claimed complete success 

 in from 40 to 50 per cent, out of sixty 

 animals treated. The method of pro- 

 cedure adopted by the latter observer 

 has been to modify the tubercle-produc- 

 ing properties in both human and bovine 

 tubercle bacilli by a series of homogene- 

 ous cultures in the depth of 6 per cent, 

 glycerinated bouillon, and at different 

 temperatures and pressures. These 

 modified cultures have been used for 

 immunization purposes in three ways, 

 subcutaneous, intravenous and digestive. 

 By intravenous injection Arloing obtain- 

 ed 75 per cent, of complete successes, by 

 ingestion 50 per cent., by subcutaneous 

 injection 10 per cent, of complete 

 successes and 73 per cent, of partial 

 successes, and states that there is no 

 ground for doubt and unrest as regards 

 vaccination, and that he will not hesitate 

 to use vaccines on a large scale. 



As a preventive measure, even if only 

 tentative, vaccination appears to me to 

 warrant trial in this country, and as the 

 results, whether successful or unsuccess- 

 ful, would be for the good of the nation, 

 such trials ought to be undertaken by 

 the State. 



To sum up, the only suggested 

 measures for controlling tuberculosis in 

 food animals which appear to me to be 

 capable of being put into immediate 

 action are : — . 



(1) An order by the Board of Agricul- 

 ture compelling compulsory notification, 

 investigation and slaughter of danger- 

 ously infective tuberculous animals — 

 that is animals affected with "open" 

 tuberculosis, with compensation accord- 

 ing to carcase value, and prosecution for 

 failure to notify. 



(2) Pecuniary assistance by the 

 State to owners of stock who are willing 

 to attempt the production of tubercle- 

 free herds, and agree to carry out 

 requirements considered necessary to 

 obtain success, special consideration 

 being given to the production of tuber- 

 culin, free testing, segregation, sanitary 

 buildings, disinfection, &c 



(3) Experiments in vaccinating young 

 animals against tubercular infection to 

 be carried out by, and at the expense 

 of, the State. 



All the above are of course only pre- 

 liminary measures ; success or failure 

 will point the way for further measures 

 in the future. 



THE PREPARATION OP ANTI- 

 RINDERPEST SERUM BY MEANS 

 OTHER THAN THE INJECTION 

 OF VIRULENT BLOOD. 



By Major F. S. H. Baldrey, f.r.c.v.s., 



D.V.H., I.C V.D. 



(From the Veterinary Journal, Vol. 67, 

 No. 433, July, 1911.) 

 The excessive cost in the production 

 of anti-rinderpest serum on account of 

 the animals necessary for " controls " led 

 to the method of augmenting the 

 amount of virulent material by means 

 of " peritoneal washings " or " peritoneal 

 fluid," as it is called in Muktesar. 

 Workers in the Manila Laboratories of 

 the Philippine Islands were the first to 

 inaugurate this system. The method 

 has been adopted here, but some of the 

 testings of serum so prepared gave 

 irregular results and led to the follow- 

 ing experiments to definitely decide as 

 to its value. 



The technique of preparation is com- 

 paratively simple and short as follows : — 

 (For fuller particulars read Ruediger, 

 Philippine Journal of Science, Vol. III., 

 No. 5.) 



Control animals which are to be bled 

 for providing inoculable material are 

 injected into the peritoneal cavity with 

 varying quantities of a 5 per cent, sterile 

 solution of citrate of potash at a temper- 

 ature of about 27° C. This operation is 

 performed one hour before bleeding the 

 animal to death. The injection being 

 made in the flank and the quantity of 

 fluid depending upon the weight of the 

 animal. The weight of hill animals 

 varies from 100-200 lb., and the amounts 

 injected are from 1,000-2,000 c. c. of 

 potash citrate solution. The fluid is 

 collected from the peritoneal cavity 

 immediately after the death of the 

 animal. Every precaution is taken to 

 ensure absolute sterility throughout the 

 operation. The amount of fluid recover- 

 ed is about 50 per cent, of what is 

 injected, 



The theory is that the fluid so ob- 

 tained is as virulent as blood, and experi- 

 ment has shown that a very small quan- 

 tity is capable of reproducing the 

 disease in susceptible bovines. The 

 amount of defibrinated blood obtained 

 from one of the above-mentioned con- 

 trols is 1,200-2,000 c.c, and the amount 

 of peritoneal fluid from 800-1,400 c.c; it 

 is therefeie seen that the material for 

 hyperimmunizing purposes is increased 

 to more than 50 per cent, without any 

 increased expenditure in animals. 



