May  1,  1897.]  Supplement  to  the  “ 7ropicnl  AgricuUu rist 
811 
Speakiiijf  f{ciierally,  bazaar  or  native  drafts 
are  more  bulky  and  have  to  be  given  in  larger 
quantities  than  European  drugs  possessitig  similar 
therapeutical  properties.  This,  so  far  from  being 
a disadvantage,  should  be  considered  a desirable 
quality  in  medicines  intended  for  cattle.  The 
capacious  and  complex  nature  of  their  stomacli 
and  tlie  bulky  nature  of  the  food  they  eat, 
suggest  the  advisability  of  giving  bulky  medi- 
cines to  cattle. 
In  the  treatment  of  horses,  however,  native 
drugs  are  not  as  useful  as  in  bovine  practice. 
Horse  owners  being,  an  a rule,  comparatively 
wealthy  they  can  afford  to  use  the  more 
expensive  European  medicines,  and  often  Jprefer 
to  do  so.  Some  veterinary  surgeons  consider 
it  a retrograde  step  to  use  bazaar  medicines 
in  equine  practice,  and  tliere  is  now  a tendency 
to  employ  such  new  therapeutical  preparations 
as  Antipyrin  and  Phenacetin. 
In  prescribing  medicines  for  the  dog  bulky 
and  crude  drugs  are  objectionable,  and  the 
agents  used  should  be  as  palatable  in  order  to 
avoid  the  risk  of  their  being  expelled  from 
the  stomach. 
E.  T.  IIOOLE. 
Anuradhapura,  22nd  March,  1897. 
DR.  KOCIT8  INVESTIGATIONS  INTO 
THE  CAUSE  OP  RINDERPEST. 
In  continuation  of  Di\  Ivoch’s  Reports  given  in 
the  last  issue  of  the  Agricultural  Magazine,  we 
give  the  following  two  further  communications 
referring  to  his  researches  into  Llie  cause  and  cure 
of  Rinderpest,  being  the  third  and  fourth  of  bis 
reports  upon  the  subject.  The  last  contains  results 
in  regard  to  protective  inoculation  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  stock  owners.  We  are  again  in- 
debted to  the  Agricultural  Journal  of  Cape  Colony 
for  the  text  of  these  reports,  the  date  of  the  third 
report  being  January  31st,  and  that  of  the  fourth, 
10th  February,  1897  : — 
DR.  koch’s  third  report. 
I have  the  honour  to  submit  the  following 
jeport  upon  the  progress  of  my  work  on  the 
Experimental  Station  at  Kimberly.  In  my  last 
account  I had  stated  that  I had  inoculated  two 
head  of  cattle  with  the  cultivations  given  to  me  by 
Dr.  Edington,  and  considered  by  him  to  contain 
the  microbes  of  rinderpest.  But  it  still  remained 
for  me  to  prove  if  the  beasts  operated  upon  were 
really  susceptible  to  the  disease.  For  this  reason 
we  inoculated  them  after  the  above  mentioned 
period  with  rinderpest  blood  in  our  ii.sual 
manner,  with  the  result  that  on  tiie  fourth  day 
an  elevation  of  temperature  appeared  in  the  same 
way  as  noticed  in  all  animals  when  thus  in- 
oculated. They  now  manliest  the  typical  symp- 
toms of  rinderpest.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
these  animals  contracted  the  disease  as  a result  of 
the  inoculation,  and  1 feel  therefore  justilied  in 
saying  that  Dr.  Edington’s  microbes  are  not  tlie 
cause  of  the  cattle  plague. 
The  inoculation  e.xperiments  in  sheep  and  goats 
were  continued  to  the  .-eveuth  generation,  and  in 
order  to  ascertain  whetlier  the  disease  produced 
was  really  rinderpest,  i iu'occuluted  one  heifer 
with  the  blood  of  an  Angora  of  the  second  genera- 
tion. This  inoculation  gave  rinderpest  to  the 
animal,  but  though  the  cour.se  of  tlie  disease  was 
rather  a severe  one,  tlie  beast  recovered,  and  is 
now  again  in  good  health.  Thi<  raised  the  liope 
that  the  jirevious  passage  through  goats  may 
somewhat  miiigate  the  disea-e  in  cattle,  and 
I therefore  infected  four  head  of  c ;!  tie  respectively 
from  a goat,  an  Ang  ira,  a merino  and  a Cape 
slieep,  after  1 he  vims  h:ul  ]);iss:al  live  times  through 
these  anim  Is.  These  foiu'  animals  became  dis- 
eased tiimo.vt  .simullaineously  after  a .surprisingly 
short  period  of  incubation,  and  three  of  them 
have  succumbed  after  an  illness  of  seven  and 
eight  days. 
The  course  of  the  disease  in  the  two  animals 
infected  with  the  blooil  of  the  merino  and  Cape 
sheep  was  .so  viohmt  and  the  p il  hological  lesions 
as  revetded  by  the  po^it mortem  examinations  of 
such  a severe  nature,  that  I cannot  believe  in  any 
attenuation  of  the  disease  as  far  as  sheep  is  con- 
cerned, but  am  rather  inclined  to  think  that  it 
would  be  cultivated  in  a more  virulent  form. 
The  hope  that  sheep  may  b.e  used  for  the  pre- 
paration of  a v.'.cciue ’proved  tlierefore  illusory,  but 
on  the  other  hand  it  seem.s  not  im;ios.«ible  that 
this  increased  virulence  jirodnce.s  also  a higher 
degree  of  immunity  that  is  derived  from  the  re- 
covery from  the  natural  infection,  and  that  these 
animals  may  be  more  valuable  for  immunising 
experiments.  Rather  different  was  the  result  of 
the  other  two  animals,  which  were  inoculated 
with  blood  from  an  Angora  and  from  a Cape  goat, 
for  the  first  one  showed  a high  temperature  only 
during  five  days,  scarcely  any  diarrhoeic  evacua- 
tions, and  has  now  quite  regained  its  health.  The 
other  one,  into  which  1 injected  blood  from  the 
Cape  goat,  was  a weak  animal  and  did  not  re- 
cover ; but  on  making  l\\e postmortem  examination, 
I found  that  the  pathological  changes  in  the 
stomach  and  intestines  were  much  less  marked 
than  in  tho.se  animals  infected  with  sheep  blood. 
In  accordance  with  these  observations,  1 think 
it  probable  that  the  rinderpe.st  virus,  after  a 
repeated  passage  through  goats,  becomes  actually 
but  slowly  attenuated,  and  I propose,  therefore,  to 
contiuue  these  experiments.  As  none  of  these 
small  ruminants  succumbed  to  the  disease,  I 
thought  it  advisable  to  destroy  an  animal  for 
internal  e.xamiuation, 
[The  iiostmortem  examination  on  the  merino 
selected  showed  characteristic  evidences  of  rinder- 
pest.] 
“Many  farmers  are  of  opinion,  and  this  I have 
seen  myself,  that  these  animals  may  graze  with 
diseased  cattle  without  contracting  rinderpest, 
while  on  the  other  hand  some  have  reported  that 
the  pest  had  appeared  in  their  llock.s  of  sheep 
and  goats,  and  carried  them  off  in  large  numbers, 
after  it  had  already  disappeared  amongst  the  lan^e 
stock.  My  opinion  on  this  subject  is  that  sheep 
and  goats  at  first  contract  rinderpest  in  such  a 
mild  form  that  it  c.iimot  be  diaguo.sed,  but  that 
the  pest  gradually  becomes  more  virulent  through 
being  constantly  propogated  througli  these  animal’s 
systems.  Then  the  symptoms  become  naturally 
more  distinct,  and  in  some  cases  the  disease  may 
even  take  a fatal  cour-e 
For  the  ])urpo-'  ■ f mitigiting  the  rinderpest 
rus  by  means  of  cli  .nicals,  1 liave  been  making 
the' following  experim  nrs : I mi.xed  rinderpest 
blood  with  glycerince  i?i  varying  concentrations 
and  also  with  phenol,  and  injected  these  mixtures 
hypodermically.  As  the  animals  treated  in  this 
