132 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



of entrance examination which shall be conducted by accredited vet- 

 erinary colleges before a student can be admitted. It was deemed 

 advisable to increase the standard of elementary instruction, and by 

 order of the Civil Service Commission and concurrence of the Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture the entrance examination was raised. To enter 

 an accredited veterinary college the applicant having a diploma from 

 a high school or a recognized college or normal school or a first-grade 

 teacher's certificate may enter without examination; but if he is not 

 provided with either of these papers an examination is required. 

 This examination is now the first-grade civil-service examination 

 instead of the second grade as formerly. 



Under the regulations accredited veterinary colleges in the past 

 have maintained a course of three years, but there has been a grow- 

 ing sentiment to the effect that this time is too short to obtain ade- 

 quate instruction in the complicated and many-sided study of veteri- 

 nary medicine. The majority of the veterinary colleges, through 

 their own initiative and by agreement, have established voluntarily a 

 course of four years, to begin with the session commencing in Septem- 

 ber, 1916. This movement to encourage higher veterinary education 

 has been indorsed by the Civil Service Commission and the Secretary 

 of Agriculture, and will go into effect in September, 1917, for all ac- 

 credited veterinary colleges. 



During the year there has been no veterinary college added to the 

 accredited list and none removed. The number is the same as last 

 year — namely, 21 American and 8 foreign colleges. 



When it became generally known that the veterinary colleges were 

 to increase the length of the course, many students who were contem- 

 plating the study of veterinary medicine took up the course, in order 

 to take advantage of graduation after three years instead of four 

 years, and there was an enrollment of nearly 3,000 students for the 

 session 1915-16, or an increase of 442 over the preceding session. Of 

 these 734 completed the course, and were graduated at the end of the 

 session, or 36 more than were graduated from the previous session. 



EXPERIMENT STATION. 



E. C. Schkoeder, Superintendent. 



The work of the experiment station, as heretofore, has comprised 

 tests, studies, and investigations, made both independently and in 

 cooperation with other divisions, concerning infectious diseases of 

 domestic animals, and the provision of facilities required by the 

 other divisions to make studies on large animals under normal or 

 farm conditions. The subjects which have received the most atten- 

 tion during the year are infectious abortion and tuberculosis. 



INFECTIOUS ABORTION OF CATTLE. 



While we are still in the dark as to many of the factors on which 

 the persistence and the dissemination of infectious abortion of cattle 

 depend, much has been learned from a study of this disease. Prob- 

 ably the simplest, clearest, and briefest way to define what the sta- 

 tion has done and is doing with this disease is to enumerate some of 



