60

doomed to wastage in time and money on account of the fleeting
immunity conferred by this method and its uselessness when applied
to animals already infected. This wastage was particularly accen-
tuated on account of the conditions which obtained in the districts
where outbreaks occurred. The veterinary staff had no means
of enforcing inoculation and preventing the movement of animals
in the scene of an outbreak or to ensure the mixing of the inoculated
animals with infected cattle in order to give them opportunities
of direct infection and thereby secure active immunity. Having
all these facts in mind he thought that the present method of
inoculating serum alone was not really doing much good. He
considered that this question should be earnestly discussed by the
officers from the provinces.

    Mr. Quinlan stated that in Bihar the only place in which the
simultaneous method had hitherto been adopted was at the Govern-
ment cattle farm where about 150 cattle had been inoculated by
this method and no deaths had occurred therefrom among them.
It would be, however, in the present conditions quite impossible
to apply the methods to the cattle in districts where the population
was largely Hindu, unless great changes took place in the attitude
of the people towards inoculation. Where the owners of animals
were Mohammedan in religion, the method would be more easy
of application, as they would not resent the taking of blood for the
virus inoculation to such a degree. As regards the so-called "serum
alone" method, it was admitted that it had limitations and so far
as his own experience went, he was emphatic that the owners
believed that it did a considerable amount of good and that large
numbers of cattle were saved. In fact, villagers now came forward
and asked for their cattle to be inoculated as a preventive measure,
when they feared an impending outbreak. These villagers who
sought for inoculation were mainly Mohammedan and members
of co-operative societies, where these societies were in existence.

    Mr. Branford stated that the problem which confronted them
in the districts was twofold: first of all, what form of inoculation
to adopt in the face of an outbreak, and, secondly, what form of
inoculation to adopt as a preventive measure. In the Punjab the
disease seemed to be spread largely by the movement of animals
to and from fairs and it was not impossible to prevent the spread
in these circumstances. In the neighbourhood of Hissar there
had only been three outbreaks of rinderpest in the course of 12
years and he had successfully treated his cattle with "serum
alone" as a preventive measure on these occasions. He believed
that in the face of an outbreak the simultaneous method would
be more effective, but he thought that there was great risk of.