Page 19 - VHSA - Onderstepoort 100 Years - Part 1

ONDERSTEPOORT 100 Growth and expansion (1927-1948)
PJ. du Toit’s succession of Theiler in 1927 coincided with the government’s decision to merge the Vete- rinary Research and Veterinary Services divisions of the Department of Agriculture. He was therefore appointed under the new title of Director of
Veterinary Services and Animal Husbandry
with greatly expanded responsibilities. Viljoen was appointed as Deputy-Direc- tor and de Kock and A. Goodall as sub- directors. Under the able guidance of du Toit’s predecessor most of the catastrophic animal diseases had been vanquished and vast tracts of land opened to animal production. The research institute at Onderstepoort was well established and had an international reputation of excellence. According to a Cape Times newspaper report, Dr A.E.V. Richardson, Director of the Waite Agricultural Station in Australia, had stated in an interview ‘I don’t know of anything to contradict the claim that the Onderstepoort Laboratory is the finest of its kind in the world. I certainly have not seen anything better in America or England’. However, many problems remained to be solved, including the less spectacular but perhaps more difficult task of consolidating the acquired knowledge, and improving the methods of disease control and promoting
their application in the field.
Du Toit was well equipped to deal with
these problems and soon made a perso-
nal impact. Reflecting his training in both
zoology and veterinary science, his own
scientific expertise was in protozoology and
parasitology. However, the few months he
had spent with Theiler at Armoedsvlakte
led to a life-long interest in mineral deficiencies and animal nutrition that broadened his own vision. As far as administra- tive abilities are concerned, he had practically been in control of Onderstepoort during the previous few years while Theiler had immersed himself in the activities of the outstations and the guidance of his students. In contrast to Theiler, who was directly involved in and dominated most of the research carried out during his time, du Toit had a different approach. Although he kept in touch with all research programmes and maintained close relationships with his researchers, he believed in delegating the responsibilities for research to those who were actively involved in the work and to allow as much freedom in the choice of subject matter as possible. He thus established a tradition of intellectual responsibility which was to become
a hallmark of the research at Onderstepoort in coming years, contributing substantially to its success. In line with developments elsewhere, research also increasingly became more complex and specialized. This led to the development of
discipline-based research units or sections and an emphasis on teamwork which is still the basic approach today.
One of the immediate problems du Toit faced was obtaining the means to provide his researchers with their needs. His staff, that included 23 researchers, was barely adequate to address all the problems facing the country. His budget for 1927/28 was as follows:
In his report to the Minister of Agricul- ture on the highlights of 1927, du Toit mentioned further studies on the mineral requirements of ruminants, work on the possibility of treatment of East Coast fever cases, an investigation of the susceptibility to and resistance against infection in the case of African horsesickness, bluetongue and heartwater, chemotherapy of trypanosomes and piroplasms, progress towards the control of tsetse flies and ticks, and further studies on diseases with an unknown aetiology: such as sweetsiekte, dikkop, geeldikkop, geilsiekte, kidney disease of sheep, ovine jaagsiekte and avian leukosis. An important breakthrough was the identification of the
causal organism of heartwater as a rickettsia by the visiting scientist Cowdry from the USA. In terms of remedies produced and distributed annually, the wireworm remedy topped the list with 24,3 million doses. This was followed by vaccines against anthrax (2,7 million), bluetongue (2,4 million), blackquarter (829 000), redwater/gallsickness (9913) and brucellosis (3426). Vaccination against African horsesickness was successful in mules but problems were encountered in horses. As far as the Faculty was concerned, four students graduated in 1928 and all were employed by the Department of Agriculture.
Continuing drought conditions had a negative impact on agricultural production and thus on the economy of the country, leading to financial restrictions on government spending. In order to expand the research activities du Toit
Research
Vaccine production Services
Training
£40 000 £25 000 £18 000 £ 6 000
Total
£89 000
“Du Toit established a tradition of intellectual responsibility which was to become a hallmark of the research at Onderstepoort in coming years, contributing substantially to its success.”
19
Growth and expansion (1927-1948)
1908-2008
Years