THE RABBIT CONFERENCE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1825, 26 April 1888, Page 2

THE RABBIT CONFERENCE.

DETAILS OF M. PASTEUR'S SCHEME.

(pflß PRESS AB3O0IATION .)

Sydney. April 25.

M. Loir has supplied full particulars of M. Pasteur's scheme to the Rabbit Conference. It appears that during M. Pasteur's investigations of chicken cholera about two years ago, he accidentally discovered that rabbits were especially susceptible to the malady. M. Loir says it is impossible to give direct proof that human btings are not susceptible to the disease, but he states that no case has ever been reported, even where diseased poultry were eaten. The microbes would die at a temperature of 57 degrees, and the virulence of the disease would be much weakened by exposure to air. There is no danger of the disease being conveyed through cows' milk, even if the animals were fed on poisoned tood. M. Loir states' further that no animals except rabbits are affected by the disease. During the first few removes of the disease from rabbit to rabbit, the virulence of the disease increases, but it soon attains its maxim intensity, and then becomes more virulent in rabbits than in fowls. The answers given by M. Loir to questions asked in reference to experiments conducted in France seemed to indicate that injection formed only a smali portion of the experiments, which were generally carried out by direct poisoning. The representatives of New South Wales, Victoria, and New Zealand have been appointed a Committee to conduct experiments, and the Conference has adjourned pending the report of the Committee.