766
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 20TH MAY, 1899.
A good number of instances occur where the bile is unfit for use, being yellow or dark brown in colour, ropy in consistency, and containing shreds of the mucous lining of the gall-bladder. Such bile is poisonous and useless. The best bile is that obtained from an animal that has suffered severely from rinderpest for some days, or, better, if it has succumbed to the disease. decomposition of the body commences.
It must be taken before
In instances where it has been good I have noticed it was usually very abundant. a half to one pint being easily obtained.
Method of taking the Bile.
Great care must be taken in removing the bile in order to avoid contamination by blood, or con- tents of the intestines, or by fluid of any kind in the abdominal cavity.
The carcase should be placed on the left side and the abdominal cavity opened by cutting along the median line from the extremity of the sternum to the pubis and behind the last rib down to the backbone. An assistant can then raise the flap, and the liver and gall-bladder lying underneath the ribs are well exposed.
The gall-bladder should be slightly raised with the hand, and if dirty washed with a weak solution of bichloride of mercury in water (1 in 2,000). An assistant holds a glass jar against the gall-bladder (taking care not to allow any blood or any extraneous matter to enter it), which is then punctured with a sharp knife and the bile allowed to flow into the jar. A glass cover should be placed over the jar as soon as the operation is finished.
My hands, jars, and instruments were well washed and rinsed with a bichloride of mercury solution (1 in 2,000) and dried.
As previously mentioned, I obtained in this manner from an Indian bullock half a pint of bile fit for use.
The animal died from the disease after suffering for a week. At once four healthy bulls were inoculated.
Method of Inoculation.
The animals were cast and the legs tied, and 10 cubic centimetres (about 3 drams) of bile gently injected under the loose skin in front of the chest.
As the needle of the syringe is withdrawn, the skin should be pinched between the finger and thumb at the point of insertion, to prevent any of the bile coming out again and to close the wound. The part should be gently manipulated to insure distribution of the bile in the subcutaneous tissue.
Particulars of Experiments.
I.
August 23.-Four bulls received an injection of 10 cubic centimetres of bile into the dewlap. They had not had rinderpest.
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August 25.-All eating and looking well. Swelling commencing at the seat of inoculation. August 26.-All well. All four had a fairly hard swelling, the size of a man's fist, at the seat of inoculation.
August 28.- All well. August 30.-All well.
Swelling decreasing.
Hardly any swelling at all.
September 4.-The ten days in which protection is said to be given having elapsed, the four bulls were tied in the infected sheds along with animals suffering from rinderpest, in order to see if they contracted the disease.
September 10.-The four bulls having been exposed to infection for a week were washed with a disinfectant solution and sent back to work the following Monday, 12th. None of them were ill in the slightest degree.
II.
August 28.--Two bulls died, and on post-mortem examination I found the bile good in one case and unfit for use in the other. In the former the bull had suffered badly and died after three days. I inoculated six healthy bulls and a calf,
August 30.-All eating and looking well. A large swelling at the seat of inoculation, the size of a football.
September 6.--All well. The swelling at the chest has been gradually decreasing for some days. All the six were sent back to work again.
October 6.—After a month none have been ill in any way. None of them had sores or abscesses at the chest, or suffered in the slightest degree from the inoculation.
Experiments will be continued when the opportunity arises. The method is very simple and quite harmless, if properly carried out.
G. W. STURGESS, Government Veterinary Surgeon.