Report to the Local Government Board on the state animal vaccine establishments of Germany / by R. Bruce Low.

  • Great Britain. Local Government Board.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report to the Local Government Board on the state animal vaccine establishments of Germany / by R. Bruce Low. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    better and more economical. In a few establishments animals of both kinds are being used, and observations are being made with a view of deciding this point. It is perceived that the larger animals are more liable to be affected by tubercle, and that the more lymph is likely to be lost if the large animal on being slaughtered shows signs of this disease. (It is almost unnecessary to say that in Germany, as elsewhere, no lymph is stored till a veterinary surgeon has examined the animal immediately after it has been killed, to ascertain if it has any trace of tubercle or other disease.) Another objection that has been urged against the employment of the larger animals is that from their size and strength they struggle more violently, and accidents are therefore more liable to occur. On the other hand when the larger animals are used for lymph production the amount of pulp avail- able is greatly increased and hence far fewer animals are required, and this means considerable reduction in expenditure of money and also of labour. When bulls are vaccinated, it is held that the lymph collected from the surface of the scrotum is of greater activity than other lymph, and that therefore this practice increases the value of the lymph. It is the custom in some establishments to mix together the lymph of several animals that have been vaccinated on one and the same day. It is considered that in this way a more uniformly active lymph is obtained ; that the more active lymph yielded by some animals compensates for the less active lymph yielded by others of the group, experience being to the effect that certain animals, for unknown reasons, give lymph of feeble activity, so that it is not possible at the time of vaccinating to foretell the kind of lymph that will be afforded by a given animal. In most localities in Germany there is at present no special difficulty in obtaining the number of calves or of the larger animals required for lymph production, though peiliaps at times of prevalence of epizootic disease it may prove otherwise. The animals are usually obtained through a. contractor, and the proximity of the lymph establishment to the public market facilitates, as has been said, the operations of the contractor. In most instances the bovine animal is only loaned for the purpose of lymph production, the fee paid varying according to the size and age of the animal, and differing also perhaps according to the locality ; establishments situated in the neigh- bourhood of grazing districts getting animals comparatively •cheaply, while lymph institutes situated in large cities or in industrial districts are called upon to pay more. Thus the amount paid for the hire of young calves varies from 7 to 20 marks, and for the larger animals from 35 to 80 marks (a mark may be taken as equal to one shilling of English money). The price actually paid at each vaccine establishment visited nvill duly appear.