224 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



or destroys, but because it threatens mankind with an incurable and 

 fatal infection. The individual States, therefore, have good reason 

 for desiring to stop the importation of the tuberculosis contagion and 

 for adopting measures intended to lessen or control the disease within 

 their oaau territory. 



Tuberculosis unfortunately is not confined to cattle, but also affects 

 swine, and in these animals is more acute and more likely to involve the 

 edible portions of the carcass. There is good reason to believe that 

 the disease is becoming more frequent with swine, probably on account 

 of feeding the mixed milk returned from creameries. A single tuber- 

 culous herd of cows might in this manner infect the greater part of 

 the swine in a considerable district. While this method of propagat- 

 ing the disease could be easily guarded against by sterilizing the milk, 

 it appears that this simple precaution is usually neglected. 



The herds of the United States are far less seriously affected with 

 tuberculosis than are those of European countries, notwithstanding 

 the fact that none of our States feels able to adopt and enforce system- 

 atic and thorough measures for the immediate control of this disease. 

 The proportion of animals affected in Europe indicates both the dan- 

 ger which threatens our herds, if the disease is allowed to progress 

 here, and the importance of thorough measures to prevent the intro- 

 duction of diseased breeding stock from abroad. 



Recent figures from reliable sources show that of 4,256 cattle tested 

 in Moravia, Austria, 1,553, or 36.48 per cent, were tuberculous. The 

 slaughterhouse statistics of Amsterdam show an increase in the per- 

 centage of tuberculosis among adult cattle from 1.76 in 1888 to 13 in 

 1898. In France, according to Nocard and Leclainche, Champagne, 

 Lorraine, and Brie are highly infected, the number of tuberculous 

 cows in some regions reaching 15 to 20 per cent; veterinarians esti- 

 mate that the proportion of tuberculous cows in Beauce exceeds 25 

 13er cent; in Brittany and Nivernais the disease is making frightful 

 progress; in the Hautes Vosges 30 to 40 per cent of the milch cows are 

 said to be tuberculous, while in the southeast the proportion is greater 

 still, and in certain valleys of the Pj^renees exceeds 50 per cent. In 

 Denmark, of 67,263 cattle tested from 1896 to 1898, 32.8 per cent were 

 found tuberculous. In Belgium 48.88 per cent of cattle reacted out 

 of a total of 20,850 head tested. Recent slaughterhouse statistics from 

 Germany show that the cattle slaughtered are affected with tubercu- 

 losis as follows: At Berlin (1897), 20.63 percent; Magdeburg (1897), 

 24.1 per cent; Bromberg (1896), 27.6 per cent; Lubeck (1896), 33 per 

 cent; Leipsic (1897), 36.4 per cent; Stolp (1898-99), 37.7 per cent, and 

 in the whole of Saxony (1898), 30.46 per cent. 



In Great Britain the investigations have not been so extensive as in 

 some other countries, but according to McFadj^ean 15,392 head of 

 cattle were tested during three years with tuberculin supplied by the 

 Royal Veterinary College, and of these 4,105, or 26 per cent, reacted. 

 These animals were located in all parts of England, with a few in 

 Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the Channel Islands. Four veterinary 

 surgeons tested 80 purebred Shorthorns for export, and 34 of these, 

 or 42 per cent, reacted. 



These facts show the almost universal distribution and the serious 

 extent to which tuberculosis prevails among the cattle of Europe. 

 We might almost question the advisability of further imx)ortations 

 from such badly diseased herds, but certainlj^if importation is allowed 

 it should be under the strictest supervision and with the adoption of 

 every precaution to prevent violation or evasion of the law which 

 prohibits the importation of diseased animals. 



