20                                                                                                                                   VACCINATION REPORT.

20. Table showing the results obtained with glycerine paste: —

In 1890 the late Surgeon-Major Barclay wrote a pamphlet giving most complete
instructions for carrying on animal vaccination. In the pamphlet he says that he
believes the difficulty of preserving lymph would be overcome by rubbing it up in a
mortar and adding glycerine. At the beginning of 1892-93 I made some experi-
ments and found that animal lymph could be preserved in glycerine for as long a
period as is likely to be required. The method is this :—Large glass tubes (Saigon
pattern) are sterilized by soaking in strong sulphuric acid, then in spirits of wine,
and lastly in distilled water. These tubes, now ready for use, are stored in glass
stoppered bottles containing glycerine. A healthy calf, inoculated ninety-six hours
previously, is taken; the pulp scraped from the vesicles is mixed with rather more
than its own weight of glycerine ; the mixture is then reduced to a uniform paste in
a glass mortar and stored in the glass tubes, which are closed at the ends by beeswax
and cotton. Enough paste to vaccinate 10 subjects can be stored in each tube.
These large glass tubes seem to me to be by far the best vessels for storing lymph
in, and they possess the special advantage of storing only such an amount as can be
speedily used, so that exposure is minimized. On the 26th October 1892 Govern-
ment was pleased to approve of my suggestion that a supply of these tubes should be
maintained in the Medical Stores (G.O., No. 2481 L., Mis.), but I regret to say that
at the close of the year not a single tube was available. The tubes at present in
use were obtained by the Madras Municipality from Saigon. From the Madras depôt
glycerine paste stored in these tubes is sent to various parts of the presidency, and
the results obtained are excellent. During the year 51 tubes were sent to His
Excellency the Governor of Pondicherry, 12 tubes to Colombo and 3 to Thayetmyo.

On the Nilgiris Saigon tubes are in use, but in South Canara, Tanjore and
other districts where glycerine paste is made, the material has to be stored between
plates of glass joined at the edges with wax. With one or two central depôts
in a district, and a good supply of Saigon tubes, 20 calves monthly ought to furnish
sufficient paste for a population of two millions. It is advisable to have the depôts
at places where the supervision is best; and the possibility of employing a calf
suffering from tubercle should be guarded against as much as it can be in the
absence of a post-mortem examination of each animal.