Supplement to the “ Tropical AgricuUimst. 
[April 1, J808, 
73 ^ 
the most dangerous period for stunting their 
growth by an insujfficieiit supply of food is past. 
The natives can complete the rearing of them at 
little cost by using up spare or unmarketable 
foduer, the attendance being supplied without 
outlay by the members of the familj'. The price 
the native pays is from 10s. to £2 10s., and 
when the animals and their male progeny are 
three and-a half to four years old, and lit for 
work and transport purposes, the Commissariat 
Pepartment buys them in at from £4 10s, to £5, 
only exceptionally good specimens bringing 
higher prices. 
RINDERPEST EXPERIMENTS IN SOUTH 
AFRICA. 
In the December number of the Magazine an 
account was given of the serum inoculation for 
Rinderpest. Experimenls in this method were 
started by Veterinary Surgeons Pitchford and 
Theiler in the Transvaal, and were developed and 
brought to a successful issue by the French e.\- 
perts DiS. Danysz and Bordet, assisted by Mr. 
Theiler. The Cape AgyicultumlJourno.l oi the 6th 
January contains a fuller report of the work of 
these French scientists, who claim not only a pre- 
ventive but a curative virtue for their system of 
inoculation with the serum, or rather the diflbri- 
nated blood of “salted” animals. A further ad- 
vantage claimed for this method is that its pro- 
tective effect is speedily produced. 
The most suitable period for drawing blood used 
for inoculation is from 1^ to six months after the 
animal is salted tor rinderpest, cattle that have 
suffered most from the disease being selected for 
the purpose. The maximum stiength of the blood 
is reached about two months after the cure; but 
instead of making use of the blood of animals sim- 
ply salted, it is recommended to increase its im- 
munising property still further by subjecting 
them to two or more injections of virulent blood 
before bleeding them. 
Where a great number of animals are to be 
inoculated, defibrinated blood is preferred to 
serum as the former is more economical and 
can be more quickly and cleanly prepared. The 
injection is to be made as soon as possible after 
the blood is prepared, and unless strict precautions 
are taken it cannot be kept longer than one day. 
This deflbrined blood can be used either for (.1) 
animals in whom tlie disease has already deve- 
loped, (2) those that already possess its germs 
and in whom the disease is in its incubative 
stage, or (3) animals that have not yet been affect- 
ed by the contagion but are in danger of catch- 
ing It. When those of the last-mentioima des- 
cription are injected, that is when the inocula- 
tion is intended as a preventive, the animals aie 
brought into close contact with the sick ones on 
the same day or the next, so that they may con- 
tract a mild fonn of the disease and recover, and 
thus get permanently salted. When animals al- 
ready .=ick are to be treated larger do-ei of the 
blood should be injected so us -to mitigate the 
effect# of the virus in their system and cure 
them. Out of 336 head of cattle which were 
inoculated by the French e.xperts, no less than 
309 were successfully salted; the death-rate thus 
being only about 8 per cent. 
The instruments and appliances necessary for 
this method of inoculation are an enamelled pan 
that will hold about ten bottles, a trocar, a scal- 
pel, a brush made of iron wire, and hypodermic 
syringes. Strict cleaidiness must be observed in the 
process of drawing blood from the salted animal, 
as well as during defibrination and inoculation; 
andnoneof these operations must take place in the 
sun. The particulars as to inoculation and sub- 
sequent treatment are us follows : — 
The healthg animal* each receive a first injec- 
tion of 100 c. c. of blood. They are then brouglit 
in contact with the sick, or, if possible, infected by 
spreading on the nose the contents of the bowels 
of an animal that has ju.st died of rindeipest. 
The contact must be kept up for several days so 
as to ensure .speedy infection. They receive a 
second injection (of 100 c. c.) five or six days after 
they are infected. 
“ To bo thoroughly salted the animals must be- 
come sick and recover. But it may happen that 
out of a herd brought under protective treat- 
ment, a certain number of animals become sick 
only from twenty to thirty daj’s after the injec- 
tion, that is to say, at the moment that tlie ani- 
mal loses from its body the blood which should 
protect it from tlie deadly disease. In such cases 
a fresh quantity of 100 to 200 c. c, of blood must 
be injected in order to cure them and thoroughly 
salt them” 
The infected cattle must be carefully fed and 
nursed as in ordinai-y rinderpest cases. 
Animals already sick must be injected for the first 
time with 200 to 300 cubic centimeters of blood 
from salted animals, and two or three days later 
there roust be a second injection of from 100 to 
200 c. c. of blood if the cases do net get better. 
In conclusion, it is necessary for us to know the 
relative merits of the above method as compared 
with Dr. Koch’s. Each of these has its pro- 
per place and application, and in this connection 
the Report of Veterinary Captain Haslam is 
very important as summing up the opinion of a 
recent Congress of Veterinary Surgeons and 
Bacteriologists assembled at Johannesberg. Tlie 
bile inoculation invented by Dr. Koch is con- 
sidered the best for uninfected herds while rinder- 
pest prevails in the neighbourhood; and the im- 
munity produced by bile i.s said to be increased 
to an unknown extent by injecting, 12 days after- 
ward.c, the blood of an animal suffering from 
rinderjiest. The serum or blood system of in- 
oculation is considered the only suitable remedy 
for infected herds. 
Mr. Haslam, however, says; “There can be no 
doubt that all modes as yet known of dealing 
with rinderpest in South Africa are imperfect 
and much work still requires to be done. ” It 
will thus be found that while seeking to profit by 
the labiiurs and researches of eminent bacteriolo- 
gists, we cannot at least for the present aflerd to 
despise such simpile and homely methods of pre- 
vention and suppression as quarantine, isolation, 
segregation, disinfection, &c. 
