THE RABBIT PEST.

Evening Star, Issue 12928, 26 September 1906, Page 6

THE RABBIT PEST.

Press; Associates*—By Telegraph—Copyright. EXPERIMENTS. September 25. Sir WHliam Lyne has received a report from Dr Tidswell, who was appointed .by the Goviernment to assist in carrying out the initial laboratory experiments with Dr Danysz's rabbit virus. As the result of exhaustive oxperimonts on carnivorous birds, fowls, native small birds, pigeons, sheep, rabbits, guinea pigs, and monkeys, Dr Tidswell, reports that tie whole course of experiments revealed that, while causing fatality amongst rabbits, the virus, as far as natural means of infection was concerned, was remarkably innoxious to other kinds of animals exposed to it. He recommends further experiments on a larger scale on Broughton Island, where preparations have already been made for fully testing the virus -under natural conditions. ANOTHER METHOD. SYDNEY, September 26. (Received Soptember 26, at 9.14 a.m.) The Brewongle Station has successfully employed the Kangaroobio system on fifty rabbits. Cotton waste, saturated with bisulphide of carbon, was fastened to the legs of the rabbits, which were released at tho mouths of the burrows. Two days after the burrows, still remained, closed, thus affording convincing evidence that the bisulphide had 1 done its work. THE DANYSZ SCHEME. DETAILS OF THE EXPERIMENTS. SYDNEY, September 26. (Received September 26, at 9.32 a.m.). Dr TidsweH's report shows that the animals and birds were fed upon artificiallyprepared baii« and infected dead rabbits, or materials contaminated therewith. They were also made to inhale the virus, and exposed to contagion from the sick and dead rabbits. Finally, they were inoculated with tl>o virus. By all these processes tlw rabbits were killed readily enough, but by none of them were any other anhnals affected, save only by direct inoculation. Inoculation proved as fata} to pigeons as to rabbits, and usually caused the deaths of seagulls and magpies, and sometimes kilted guinea pigs, crows, rate, fowls, and sheep, but a monkey proved resistant even to this violent method of infection. ''llia results, however, do not imply that the virus can bo spread by inoculation from rabbits to birds in the field. At the same time, observations are needed before tit© vrrus- could be pronounced safe for distribution broadcast over the land. The, experiments had demonstrated that tlio virus was not mlectivo to human beings, and diseased carcasses were fredy handled by the operators without precautions.