A consideration of some diseases of animals : the laboratory and field worker / by T. Dalling.

  • Dalling, Thomas.
Date:
[1927?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A consideration of some diseases of animals : the laboratory and field worker / by T. Dalling. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    1/12
    P. 6'tSV 2.0 X. Reprinted from the Ye ter inary Record, May 21st, 1927. A Consideration of some Diseases of Animals— The Laboratory and Field Worker.* By Major T. Dalling, M.R.C.V.S., Wellcome Research Laboratories, Beckenham. The following are some of the points included in the investigation of animal diseases—a general study of the disease as it occurs naturally in the field ; a detailed study of naturally-occurring cases, preferably in the field (under certain circumstances it may be necessary to carry out this study on animals transported to a laboratory, especially if the course of the disease is prolonged) ; a detailed macroscopic and microscopic consideration of affected tissues, including bacteriological and similar types of examinations in an attempt to name the cause. The investigation from this point may vary considerably, depending largely on the findings. As the ultimate object of research into disease is the establishment of prophylaxis and curative treatment, it naturally follows that if definite bacteriological or similar evidence is forthcoming as to etiology, attempts will be made to evolve biological products which can ultimately be used in the field. The efficacy of such products must first be established in the laboratory on laboratory experimental animals if such are susceptible, then on small numbers of the animals naturally attacked, and finally one or more extensive field trials must take place in which an adequate number of untreated animals is exposed to the natural disease under exactly similar conditions to those treated. The issue from such an experiment would decide whether the product evolved could be adopted for general use in all parts of the country. If, during the course of the inves¬ tigation, the cause of the disease is shown definitely to be non-parasitic in character, the above does not apply and a further study of preventive and curative methods must be undertaken. The following remarks apply to diseases of a parasitic nature. The laboratory and the field worker play equally important parts in investigations. To a large extent the veterinary practitioner is the field worker, and we cannot emphasise too strongly the part he can, and often does, play, and the very great help he can be to the laboratory worker. The further we study disease problems the more we must agree that in cases where the veterinary prac¬ titioner plays his part well, the earlier can results be got and the more reliable are the results of tests carried out. There are times when the laboratory worker must become *Presented at the Annual Meeting of the North Wales Division, Bangor, February 25th, 1927.