EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 521 



The United States Veterinary Medical Association at their meeting in 

 Buffalo, September, 1896, published the following: 



"Whereas, Tuberculosis of some of our domestic animals, and especially 

 of cattle, is a wide-spread and destructive disease; and 



"Whereas, The statistics accumulated during the year past show that 

 the disease is very prevalent throughout this country, especially in dairy 

 herds, indicating that it is steadily increasing, except in states where 

 active measures for its suppression have been enforced; and 



"Whereas, There exists in some quarters a difference of opinion as to- 

 the relation of tuberculosis among cattle to the public health, notwith- 

 standing the fact that this matter has been the object of careful scientific 

 inquiry by a great number of eminent scientists in all parts of the world, 

 and that reliable and uniform observations are recorded in great numbers 

 in the veterinary and medical literature, by it; 



"Resolved, That it is the opinion of the United States Veterin- 

 ary Medical Association that the following points have been demon- 

 strated beyond dispute and may be accepted as fully established: 

 First, that tuberculosis of man and cattle is identical; second, 

 that the milk from cows with tuberculous udders may cause 

 tuberculosis in animals fed upon it; third, that the milk from cows- 

 with extensive tuberculosis, but apparently healthy udders, may, 

 in some cases, contain the germ of tuberculosis, and cause the disease 

 in animals fed upon it; fourth, that in some cases the germs of tubercu- 

 losis appear in the milk of tuberculous cows that are not far advanced in 

 the disease, and of others that are healthy, so far as can be determined 

 by an examination made during the life of the animal; fifth, slightly 

 tuberculous cows sometimes succumb to the sudden exacerbation of tuber- 

 culosis and furnish virulent milk for a period before it is possible to dis- 

 cover their conditions by means of physical examination ; sixth, tubercu- 

 lin furnishes incomparably the best means of recognizing tuberculosis 

 in the living animal; seventh, tuberculin, properly used for diagnostic 

 purposes, is entirely harmless to healthy cattle and is so exceedingly ac- 

 curate in its effects that the few errors resulting in its use cannot affect 

 the general results, and are of less frequent occurrence than following 

 the use of any other method of diagnosing internal diseases; eighth, that 

 the carcasses of tuberculous animals may be and sometimes are danger- 

 ous to the consumer, and all carcasses should be subject to a rigid inspec- 

 tion by a competent veterinarian, and those that are condemned should 

 be disposed of in such a manner that it will be impossible to put them on 

 the market for consumption as human food; ninth, that the importance of 

 dairy inspection cannot be overestimated, and municipal and health 

 authorities should at once perfect a system commensurate with the vast 

 importance of the subject. 



"Resolved, That the live stock, and especially the breeding interests of 

 this country can never regain their former prosperity until such measures 

 have been carried out by the National and State governments as will 

 afford some reasonable guaranty against the continued ravages of this 

 disease. And, in view of the prevalence of bovine tuberculosis in foreign 

 countries and the measures taken by some of them to protect their cattle 

 from infection, the United States should prohibit the importation of 

 breeding animals until they have been proven by the tuberculin test to be 

 free from the disease." 



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