THE PASTEUR EXPERIMENTS IN SYDNEY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9149, 3 September 1888, Page 5

THE PASTEUR EXPERIMENTS IN SYDNEY.

The following interesting article on the ' experiments being conducted in New South Wales for destroying rabbits by the Pasteur process has been contributed by Dr. Henry C. Wigg, F.R.C.S., to the Melbourne Age When the New South Wales Government formally decided to test the various schemes for destroying rabbits by spreading disease amongst them, It set about the work with a most commendable liberality. Rodd's Island, a rocky islet of about onethird of an acre in extent, and situated in a narrow cove some three miles distant from Sydney by the ferry, was chosen as the site for the experiments, and has been nearly covered with well-designed and commodious, though very ugly, buildings. It is not easy of access, and admission to it is jealously guarded, but through the kindness of the Under-Secretary for Lands, Dr. Katz, the Government expert, received instructions to show me through the various laboratories, &c., and to supply me with the information I desired. The island is named after Mr. Rodd, a well-known retired solicitor, who bought it from the Government many years ago, but afterwards. with great public spirit, returned it to the colony to be used as a recreation ground; and it is understood that he views with much displeasure the transformation of the pretty place into a corrugated iron manufactory for diseases. It cannot be reached directly from Sydney, but the steamer lands the visitor at Callan Park, near the new Hospital for the Insane, whence he has to get across as best he can. I, however, was spared any trouble through the courtesy ot Dr. Blaxland, the head of the asylum, who sent me across in his boat. The island itself is geologically of the Hawkesbury sandstone formation, which overlays, at a depth of 2000 to 3000 feet, the great coal measures of the colony. The surface has been levelled by blasting operations, and is almost; covered by the various buildings ; but the margin is still fringed with small eucalypti and wattles, with a few "honeysuckle" trees interspersed. The centre of the block is occupied by a great cage, intended for the rabbits, 100 ft by 80ft, and loft high. This is formed of ordinary rabbit-proof fencing, covered outside with wire network so exceedingly fine as to be fly-proof, in order to prevent the possibility' of conveying the infection by means of insects—one of the common modes of its propagation. Beyond this is a similar cage, 35ft square, in which the other animals are placed which are to be subjected to the same treatment as the rabbits, to show whether or not they are susceptible to the poison. This is at present occupied by a sheep, a cow, a calf, a pig, a dog, and a goat, which are being fed with "cultures" of the chicken cholera mixed with their food, but hitherto without visible effect. It will be remembered that when the New South Wales Government some time ago, in despair at the immense and apparently useless expenditure it incurred in destroying rabbits, proposed a reward of £25,000 for the discovery of a cure for the pestilence, Professor Watson came forward with his itch, Dr. Butcher with his rot, and M. Pasteur with his cholera; and all offered their services. M. Pasteur's plan rests upon the fact, now made certain through the labours of hundreds of pathologists, that diseases can be cultivated outsirle the body. Consumption, anthrax, leprosy, ghastly poisons of various kinds, can be grown, each in its little warm bottle, and stored up for future use ; and every single drop of these can be used as a seed, and each germ cultivated into millions. This, of course, puts fresh power into our hands, and has effected much good—with, it is to be feared, much harm also. One of M. Pasteur's flatterers has even crone so far as to liken him to a little god, sitting above the world, and " holding in his hands the powers of disease and death." But he scarcely deserves such words, either for praise or blame; he is but one of many enthusiastic workers, though, perhaps, the best known of all. The special disease he has entered for competition is the cholera des poults, or chicken cholera, which has for long been endemic in parts of France, and which was accidentally discovered to affect rabbits also. The mode of growing the disease is this : Chicken broth (the favourite food of the disease when it is out of the body) is heated under pressure to a temperature of from 230deg to 240deg Fah., in order to destroy any germs that it may contain, is neutralised with a little potash, and a single drop of the diseased blood i- l.»t fall into it. The microbes, exceedingly minute bodies of a somewhat shape, which are found in the blood, and which are the disease, feed upon the neutralised broth, and rapidly reproduce themselves, so that at the end of 24 hours the "culture," as it is called, is a mass of living poison. A drop of this "culture" will grow in the same way in the nutriment solution, and so it may bo indefinitely multiplied. Temperature is a most important factor in the process, and by cultivation at different heats the disease may be produced of various degrees of malignity. The buildings, considering that they are but for temporary use, are well constructed. They are of corrugated iron, but double, with a space between the sheets, and are pleasantly situated in very charming scenery. The island •is about 200 yards from the shore of the pretty cove, and has no houses near it. The large and convenient "culture" room is the first shown. It is furnished with breeding ovens for the diseases, shaped rather like incubators, and having double walls, the space between which is filled with water, that can be heated by a gas jet from below. The interior has perforated racks, in which the culture tubes stand, and one oven for attenuating the virus is furnished with an automatic thermal register for keeping the cultures always at the same temperature, and of so wonderfully ingenious a character that it seems as if nothing short of a miracle would make it work. The sterilizer will not give a heat of over 212deg, but this, if necessary, can be altered. The walls and the firm, solid tables are covered with the variously-shaped tubes and flasks and retorts necessary for the investigation and manufacture of the poisons. The next room is a small laboratory for the chemical operations, and beyond is the microscope room. The microscope itself is made by Czeiss, of Jena, but the stand, being without any coarse adjustment, seems singularly awkward for such work. The highest powers are a one-twelfth and a oneeighteenth, both oil immersions. The gas is furnished by an "Alpha" air gas machine, which seems to work very well. There is a small crematorium outside, intended for ' burning the bodies of any animals that may die on the island. The expenses incurred hitherto by Government are, I am informed, about £6000. So far but little has been done ; partly, it is understood, through the existence of what is politely termed "friction" amongst the experts—Dr. Katz, to whose patience and courtesy I am much indebted, representing the" interests of the New South Wales Government, Mr. Bell those of New Zealand, while Messrs. Loir and Germont act for M. Pasteur. There was much difficulty in getting the chicken cholera to work at first, but at present they have it of full power. Two rabbits had died from its effects just before I arrived. It is necessary to point out that but little is yet known about this virulent poison, and that all that can be proved by the present experiments is of a purely negative character. They may show that the disease cannot be taken by sheep or oxen and by certain birds, bub they cannot prove that it will be taken by contagion from rabbit to rabbit in the open ; and, if it has to be fed to them, it will be nothing more than a clumsy and expensive poison. The hope of the Pasteur agents is that it may sweep off the animals in a great epidemic ; but this seems very doubtful. All domestic fowls are killed by it—geese and turkeys with especial rapidity, ducks rather less easily. The disease does not appear to exist in the colony, none of the supposed cases that have been investigated by Dr Katz proving to be it. It is even doubtful whether it will not attack deer, and it is considered by some that the great deer epidemic of 1877 in Germany was really chicken cholera, though others, with Dr. Katz, regard it as the " wild seuche," a disease with oval microbes. In a word, any real experiments must have the colony for a fieldand the destruction of the rabbits for proof. ______________