The author has interested himself in nuclear science especially as
it affects veterinary medical matters for over fifteen years. He
attended many Service courses on the subject and has written a number
of theoretical articles. (Wilkins 1949, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1959).In 1960 he was posted to the Radiobiological Research Unit of
the Medical Research Council at Harwell to help in a project to discover
the effects of neutrons using large animals as the test subjects. His
specific task was to acquire and maintain in health a large colony of
goats. He took the opportunity to study some of the effects of
X- irradiation on these animals and, in a very small measure, to put
theory into practice.The study was divided into two sections : SECTION I was a general review of the acute radiation syndrome in
domestic animals.
SECTION II consisted of general observations on a colony of goats
together with an investigation into certain aspects of the effects of
X- irradiation on adult goats.The main significance of the work is in the fact that this is the first
recording of data of the effects of whole body irradiation on a larger
ruminant domestic animal in the United Kingdom. The general pattern
of the findings is similar in most respects to that manifested by other
animal species
