138 ANNUAL, REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



Tlie law priuted above, provides that rules for the iiispeetiou of 

 carcasses of meat-produciug auimals may be promulgated by the 

 State Live Stock Sanitary Board and that, in absence of such rules, 

 the rules shall be observed that are established by the United States 

 Bureau of Animal Industry, to cover the inspection of animals 

 and carcasses for tuberculosis in abattoirs under federal inspec- 

 tion. Preliminary to the promulgation of such rules by the State 

 Live Stock Sanitary Board, it is proposed that a commission of dis- 

 tinguished sanitarians, bacteriologists and pathologists shall be 

 ajjpoiuted to consider this question in all of its bearings and to 

 recommend to the State Live Stock Sanitary Board such rules as 

 it may be necessary for the Board to promulgate. Steps have been 

 taken toward the organization of such a commission. Until the 

 commission reports and rules are promulgated by the State Live 

 Stock Sanitary Board, the rules of the federal meat inspection ser- 

 vice will be observed. 



The law governing the inspection of dairy cows and cattle for 

 breeding jjurposes brought into Pennsylvania from other states, and 

 which provides that all such animals shall be tested with tuberculin, 

 is working smoothly. The number of animals that it is necessary 

 to condemn is not so great as it was for the first years of the opera- 

 tion of the law for the reason, apparently, that shippers and deal- 

 ers exercise more care than formerly in the selection of cattle pur- 

 chased for shipment to Pennsylvania. It is a great advantage to 

 purchasers of cows to be able to buy animals which they know have 

 been recently tested and have proven to be free from tuberculosis. 

 In the enforcement of this law it has been necessary to employ a 

 special agent, who has been constantly on duty in various parts of 

 the State looking up shipments and reports of shipments of cattle 

 from other states, in order to be sure that the^' are inspected in 

 the manner required by law. No serious difificulty in connection 

 with the enforcement of this law has occurred during the past 3'ear. 



In connection with the research work that has been conducted 

 under the auspices of the State Live Stock Sanitary Board, it was 

 shown, as reported last year, thai by using a system of preven- 

 . tive inoculation or a accinatiou the resistance of animals to tuber- 

 culosis could be materially increased. This process was developed 

 by experiments made upon young cattle and on a small scale to such 

 a point that it was possible to show that animals that had been 

 put through a course of preventive inoculation, or vaccination, 

 were able to withstand inoculations of a culture of virulent tubercle 

 bacilli large enough to cause extensive and even fatal disease in 

 similar animals which had not received this artificial protection. 

 The great practical advantage of being able to vaccinate cattle 

 against tuberculosis impressed the officers and members of the 



