344 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
Nov. 1, 1898. 
FUNGUS PESTS UN PRODUCTS 
OTHER THAN CACAO. 
We have already urged that Mr. Carriithers' 
services shoirld not be lost at this time in tlie 
interest of Cacao planters. Rut there are others 
who should be quite as ninch interested in the 
retention of the Cryptoganiist. We do not wish 
to raise any alaim ; hut no one can read the 
several woiks published in India on tea pcst.s, 
Avithout realizing that our staple has its fungus 
enemies quite as much as Cacao. It will be 
remembered that a recent number of the " Kew 
Bulletin" was devoted to the consideration of several 
of these, and in Dr. George Watt's large volume on 
the " Pests and Blights of the Tea Plant." there is 
very plain speaking as to the serious ell'ect which 
the "grey bligiit" and the "blister blight"— 
botii fungi — may have on tea in Assam, if the 
beginnings of their attacks are not watched and 
promptly dealt with. For this reason alone, 
is it not indispensable to have a Cryptogamist 
on the spot to be ready to deal with any fungus 
pest on Ceylon tea. Even now siu-h is not 
unknown at ceitain seasons of the year and it 
would be wilful blindness not to take the needful 
preoautions wlion the right man for the work is 
already iu the island. 
^ 
THE BACTERIOLOGY OF PLACiUE. 
We have no doubt that our local medicos .-xre 
keeping abreast ot the kiiowlcdge which is a\ ail- 
able to them from |)rofessional sources, on the 
terrible disease which has taken such a fatal hold 
of portions of the adjoining continent, and are 
treasuring the information with wliich tlieir bre- 
thren are able to sui)iily theui through the medi- 
cal journals. The subject, however, is of sur- 
pas.sing interest to lay folk as well ; and what- 
ever information can he placed within their reach 
in a popular form, is sure to be useful in one or 
more of two ways — in inducing due precautions, 
and in jjrotecting against groundless a]>prehen- 
sions. Dr. E. L. llarsli is a specialist who has 
been sent to India from home to assist Professor 
Haflfkine in his investigations ; and his Lecture, 
delivered in the Hall of the Wilson College Liter- 
ary Society, Bombay, is of the simple and in- 
forming character, which the general public 
should welcome. The lecture was delivered under 
the presidency of Surgeon-Lieut. -Col. Hatch, the 
Principal of the Grant Medical College ; anil we 
are sure a brief summary of jiarts of it, as pub- 
lished by an Indian contemporary, may be read 
with prolit by our renders, at a time when plague 
is so much in the air, and when we are living iu 
constant ajiprehenaion of its introduction into the 
inland, notwithstanding the vigilance of the Gov- 
ernment and medical authorities here and in India. 
In tracicg the development of bacteriological 
research through, and since, the labours of Pasteur, 
Dr. Marsh points out that the establishment of 
the connection between living germs and the 
causes of disease has led to the discovery that many 
diseases are traceable to parasites ; and further to 
the adoption of treatment which can check their 
activity. Thus, Pasteur found that the germs of 
decomposition could be contiolled by parboiling 
the foods containing them, or by excluding the 
air in which they abounded. Hence the nse of re- 
frigeiating chambers, and of certain chemicals 
which destroy germs ; hence, too, the filtration 
or boiling of water, or preferably both, which it is 
so diflicult to make most people to practise. The 
importance of seeking the aid of science is proved 
by the ascertained possibility of intensifjcing 
niisclufcf by injudicious apidicatioUB of so-c&lled 
disinfectaiito, or by dif-turbance of the soil. 
'J'hus, the bacillus of enteric or typhoid fever 
is said to be greatly benefited, instead of being 
destroyed, by the applicatiou of a weak solution 
of carbolic acid to the material nourishing it. 
Next, the various well-established methods of 
protecting against infectious iliNeafes are discussed, 
fiuch ius those of Jenner and Pa,steur, «liicli 
artilicially weaken the infection and province a 
less virulent form of the disease which piotecte 
against virulent disea.se ; that of Haiil<ine, who 
inoculates extinct cultures of the niicro-organii^iii 
and its product*, with i^iniilar resulth ; the 
method ot Behring which confers (eaiporarj j>ro- 
tection against virulent diseruse by inoculatin» 
blood or serum endowed with imniuniziug proper- 
ties—as in the case of tetanus and (Tiptheria. 
The extent of the protection which e;w:h of these 
methods confers is next considered ; and then we 
are told that Dr. Hallkine's method of protecting 
against plague has established conlideuce in tl»e 
resources of bacteriology. 
Speaking of the results of inoculation, Dr. Mar»-li 
concludes thus : — 
The inoculations have been applied to many thoaainda 
of persons exposed, less or more, to the infection of 
plajjuc. I maice use of the records of 5,665 perconi' in 
whom the circumstances of cxpc»Bure were exactly 
similar, tiie oidy difforentialion behig that 2,70t) of these 
persons were atrnegliug to escape the dieease nccurutuia 
ualuritiii, while 2.tUti were aided against the diseiise 
siriindum ai tcm. Of the 2 910 inoculated persons, 11 1, or 
H b per cent, suffered from plague, and of these 15 or 
3'J l par cent diod. But of the 2,709 uuinoculated 
persons 3G7, or 13 5 per cent were attacked with plugue 
and of these 2f>4, or 710 per cent died. H«,d the 
incidence of attack and the cases of mortality of the 
inoculated peri--ous equalled that of the nniuoculatcd 
then 2:")5 more cases of plague and 212 more deaths 
from plague would have resulted. luoeulated persons, 
therefore, even when their armour of protection is put 
on in the pr-esence of the enemy, have an immense 
advantage over the uninoculated in respect of the 
number killed and wounded. It is not difficult to 
understand how an inoculated population would 
attain a still greater resistance to the disease if 
inoculation preventive was established early instead of 
being relegated to the position of an expedient when 
the disease had already caused frightful mortality. 
Thus, more and more, the practice of preventive 
medicine is having to adapt itself to the experience and 
stu3yof the natural history of bacteria ; and whatever 
Nature teaches of the limitations she imposes upon 
these lowly forfns of life must form the basis of proce- 
dures which purport to prevent bacterial disease. The 
advances made in recent bacteriology, as a science of 
disease causes, entitle this scieuca'to an important 
position in preventive measures. In proportion, as it 
occupies the position its consequence demands, will it be 
contributive of real service. It would be easy to 
ehiborate the argument as to the importance of protec- 
tive inoculations in plague, but I must content myself 
wiih the plea that the statement I have given, 
imperfect as it is, of the principles of disease prevention 
when the disease is of bacterial origin, will sufficiently 
imply what more might be said for a " Science which 
is becoming more and more able to preserve and 
strengthen to men their gift of life." 
Cacao Trees, writes a planting correspondent, 
are still to be seen in a moribund condition 
on estates lying between .Matale and Ckuwella. 
Mr. Carruthers' services should be retained by 
Goveinmeiit at least for six months more; for 
we are likely to have a spell of wet, after all 
this dry weather, which will be in favour of the 
destructive cacao fungus. 
