ON THE INOCULATION OF RABBITS WITH THE VIRUS OF TUBER. CULOSIS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XIX, Issue 115, 18 May 1883, Page 2

ON THE INOCULATION OF RABBITS WITH THE VIRUS OF TUBER. CULOSIS.

♦ To the Editor of the Express. Sir, —Iq the "Marlborongh Daily Times " of the 3rd instant, I note a letter of Mr J. D. Busby's suggesting the adviaability of repubkshing a letter from the "Australasian," signed by Mr A. Willowß, M.R.C.V.S.L., Sydney, and recommending the abore as a means of dealing effectually with the rabbit pest. What 1 presume isa reprint of the letter referred to appeared in your issue of the 4th instant. Again, on the same subject I find a paragraph in your paper of the lOtb, stating that you understand " that some twenty-four rabbitß have been inoculated with tuberculosis by Mr P. R. M'Rae and turned one on Blairich." Who Mr Willows is, and what qualifies him to be called aD expert (vide Mr Busby's letter) I do not know. The letters appended to his name dab him Member of the Royal College of' Veterinary Surgeons, London ; and we have his own statement as to his experimental experience. His offer of gratuitous inoculation, with the stipulation, however, that his travelling expenses are paid— relying on public gratitude to reward him if successful—does not sound well. The local re Mr M-Rae is, I hope, in error ; whether so or not it may be well to consider what " Tuberculosis" is, and what its introduction as a specific blood poison among rabbits may mean. Fleming, F.R.G.S., &c, &c, and V.S. to the Royal Engineers, in his invaluable " Manual of Veterinary, Sanitary Science and Police," published after thedisgusting experiments alluded to by Mr Willows were made, describes it under the synonyms of " Teohnical : Tuberculosis, Phthisis pulmonalis, Tabies Mesenterica : English .- Consumption, Wasting, Scrofula, Pining. The Frenoh, German, Italian, and Bengalee I need not transoribe. He affirms that tuberculosis "probably prevails among th» domesticated animals over the entire globe, though its frequency will depend upon various external influences as well as the constitutional tendencies of different speoies and breeds." After remarking that the disease has been experimentally produced in a considerable number of animals of different species— carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores— by inoculating and feeding with tuberoular matter, he says, "We are bound to ajoertain all we can about a disease which, though known to veterinarians for many years, has not until recently been suspected of possessing transmissable qualities." He then states, II The progress of the malady is slow, and its commencement insidious." The possible causes and symptoms of the disease are too exhaustively treated for me to quote Mr Fleming exoept as to the long time whioh may elapse before it proven fatal. He refers more particularly to cattle, but presumably to all infected animals. " The progress of tuberoular phthisis is sometimes acute, but is most frequently chronic. The insidiousness of this malady at its commencement render 8 its primary phenomena obsoure and inappreciable, and it may have been in existence for months before the earliest external manifestation can be fixed upon." Again, " The period is variable in its duration, and may extend over monthp." He strongly impresses on the reader, however, the fact taat it requires conditions decidedly unfavorable to tuo infected animal to hasten the oonsum--1 mation of |the disease, The pathologioa

anatomy of tuberculosis ia not sufficiently attractive to induce me to qnote fro j Mr £ lemming thereon, but passing to his article on i cont-jion, I find the following, 1-ie infeetiveneas of tuberculosis, loDg ago suggested by Morg»<»ni, Ki quite recently received much attention, and facts o[ an experimental kind have certainly attirmed its tt(inßmi.ssib : 'ity by the inoculation and mgestion of tnbercnlous matter • though it must be acknowledged that arrayed against the able authorities who have been successful in these ex-pe'-ments nxe several who have been unsucceasfn and others who deny that I tlit remit* obtained have any value in thin dire,;! ion." After noting successful, experiments in direct inoculation by ingeation or otherwise, Mr Fleming questions the general contagiousness of tuberculosis ; and a3 regards rabbits its hereditariness as follows :— " Harms and Gunther, of the Hanowr Veterinary School, have induced the disease in rabbits." " They did not find thf young of time, rabbits infected, though they had been xuckled anil, kept alive for ten. ieee.};s, v He allows that under certain conditions the disease may be contagious, but states that "at present ye only kno«r that inoculation and feeding by the stomach with tuberonlar matter will produce the disease in animals." Bnt further — " Several veterinarians have held the opinion that the disease could be induced by healthy animaia breathing the expired air of phthisical ones. This pulmonary mode of access has been for a long time considered possible in mankind. Villemin, for inetaaee, ia of opinion that transmission of the malady in the human species takes place most frequently by the dry expectorated tubercular matter beiug accidentally reduced to powder, and carried by the atmosphere into the lungs. Veterinary surgeons have believed that forage, toiled by the expectorations of the dineaml, and consumed by healthy animal* will communicate^ the malady." Lastly Mr Fleming give? such evidence as proves that the milk of animals suffering from tuberculosis may induce the disease in those fed with it. Now, the foregoing and what we all, alas! know of consumption, go to shew that this most dreadful disease can be disseminated easily, bat not with certainty; that it may be present iu a community whether of the lower orders or ot mankind ; that the very air we breathe may be contaminated by germs from the diseased animals, and that beast or man may fall a victim to the virus ; but do given result cau he predicated. As an exterminator tuberculosis is powerless. A disease which has been present iu man and the domesticated animals from time immemorial, without materially lessening their numbers or interfering with their increase, can have but little effect on feral races. The youngest student ia the grand science of Natural History knows that with them the weakest goes to the wall. Natural selection alone is a fir more powerful preventive against the perpetuation of any form of disease than aught humanity can invent. As to the idea that a rabbit burrow must necessarily be unhealthy to its inmates because it does not come up to our ideas of ventilation is absurd. As well suppose that an otter must suffer from bronchitis from his constant wet feet. Nature's hygiene ia too perfect to allow us to see consumptive bunny coughiug out bis little life on a New Zealand bill Bide. I trust my letter is merely a tilt at » windmill. As regards Mr Busby's suggestion that Government should see to the dissemination of tubercoloais amongst the rabbits, I have too much respect for the poworu that be to suppose for a moment tbat they would countenance the introduction of a disease which, to be effective at all (which I think impossible), must be so with all animals, and especially with all grtss eaters, within reach of contagion. — I am, etc., J. R. W. Cook.