Nov. 1, 1894.] Supplement to the " Tropical Agriculturist." 
357 
from that country, and driven from fair to fair 
for sale ? 
" Tlie rationale of ail such being cause and 
effect, certain conditions given produce certain 
effects." 
" I distinctly disagree with the statement (as 
to spontaneous development being impossible), 
so far as Ceylon is concerned, as I have known 
the disease break out in several instances where 
no known cause of contagion existed. I quote 
one instance : — ■ 
In January, 1877, when on my way to Colombo, 
at Nawalapitiya, 1 found all approaches to Kail- 
way Station and all around in a very filthy 
condition, owing to the large concourse of carts 
and bullocks conveying the abundant coffee crop 
of that year, IS T awalupitiya being then the Rail- 
way Terminus. 
On seeing this state of things, 1 was at once 
impressed witli the clanger of an outbreak of 
rinderpest ; and made all inquiry (being an in- 
terested party) if disease existed, but could hear of 
none: some hundreds of cart-cattle were standing 
ankle deep in their tilth, with the vile emanations 
arising therefrom, under a powerful sun. 
I spoke to several people and pointed out the 
danger, went on my journey, returned in about 8 
duys, to find the large concourse of cattie and 
curts utterly dispersed. 
.Rinderpest, meantime, having broken out, all 
fled who could. I lost six pairs of bullocks out of 
twelve pairs 1 had at work, they being quite 
well as 1 passed them on their way to Station 
the day I left. All after-inquiry could in no 
way elicit any other cause for the sudden 
appearance of the disease in its most virulent 
form except that of spontaneous outbreak. 
I also know of many instances of cattle being 
driven from the lowcountry tanks, where all 
the meat supply of Ceylon are fattened. 
Owing to the hardships of travel and sudden 
exposure in the higher regions, the cattle often 
standing without shelter, all night during the 
monsoon rains, rinderpest breaks out. 
1 have many cases on record, some of single 
animals suddenly brought from the hot lowcountry 
and exposed to the cold of higher regions, 
developing rinderpest after weeks of change. 
I am unable to account for such outbreaks in 
any other way than by spontaneity. 
(To be continued. J 
TO ESTIMATE BUTTER TAT IN MILK. 
Before its examination the milk must be 
thoroughly mixed, 10 cc. should tbeij be drawn up 
into a pipette and run into a graduated tube. Now 
take 10 cc. of ether and add it to the milk in the 
tube. Close the tube with a well fitting cork or 
the thumb and shake well, the gas beiug allowed 
to escape by removal of cork or thumb, and the 
tube again shaken, and so on until the ether and 
milk are thoroughly mixed. Then add, by means 
of pipette 10 cc. of 01 per cent, alcohol and conti- 
nue the shaking. During the shaking the cork or 
thumb must be several times removed. The tube 
should then be closed with the cork and placed 
In the water at 100 degrees to 110 degrees b\ 
Soon after the insertion of the tube in the 
warm water, suiull fat globules will be seen rising 
to the surface, where they unite to form a clea 
layer. When, after five or ten minutes, no more 
globules of fat are seen rising the tube may be 
placed in the glass cylinder, which has been filled 
beforehand with water at 70 degrees F. In most 
cases the layer of fat will somewhat increase, at 
first it will be c'.oudy and then become clear. 
The quantity of fat can then be read off, as 
indicated by the graduated lines in the tube, each 
division representing T V cc. and the correspond- 
ing number indicating the amount of fat per 
cent, in the milk. The addition of 3 or 4 drops 
of a solution of Potassium Hydrate to the milk 
and ether before they are shaken, will facili- 
tate the process. — Australian Agriculturist. 
MEAT AND PARASITES. 
A large quantity of buffalo meat is palmed 
off as prime ox-beef in many towns. It has been 
found, for instance, that rather more than 25 
per cent, of the carcases exposed for sale at 
Perambore, the chief cattle slaughter-house in 
Madras, are those of the buffalo. As far as 
nutritious qualities are concerned, there is pro- 
bably no difference between the beef obtained 
from these two animals ; but as the buffalo is a 
foul ^feeder as compared with the ox, the flesh of 
the former is less palatable. 
2. As there are so many diseases and para- 
sites which are communicable to man from cattle 
and sheep, it is very important that the animals 
to be slaughtered should be examined by a Veteri- 
nary Officer or any other duly qualified man, 
both before and after the slaughter. The para- * 
sites commonly found in the carcases of cattle 
and sheep are — (1) The different species of 
Toeniada in their various stages, and especially 
the hydatid of the Toenia echinococcus, called 
Echinococcus veterinorum ; (2) Distoma hepati- 
cum ; (3) Amphistoma conicum ; and (4) QSstrus 
ovis. Of these the most dangerous to mankiud 
are the Toeniada or tapeworms of which there 
are three kinds that occur in man, the commonest 
being Tceuia Solium which originates from Cysti- 
cercus cellulosse, the hydatid found in "measly 
pork." 
3. Echinococcus Veterinorum is the most 
widely-distributed of all the hydatids or cystic 
forms of the Toeniada, and is therefore very 
important from a sanitary point of view. It is 
found mostly in the liver and in the lungs of 
cattle, and occurs more frequently in old animals 
than in young. 
Great care should be taken to instruct all men 
in the slaughter-house, even the coolies, as to the 
appearances of these pests. A large chatty of 
water should be constantly kept boiling in a 
comer of the yard, and as soon as any of these 
parasites are noticed, that part of the carcase 
containing them should at once be cut out and 
placed in the boiling water. This recommends 
itself as a very safe and ready method of destroy- 
ing them and is practised in many parts of India 
at the suggestion of Captain Mills of the Bombay 
Veterinary College. 
Dogs being the chief hosts of tape worms 
and the chief medium for the propagation of 
the Echinococcus veterinorum, they should bo 
strictly kept out from the slaughter-house, 
