221 



ble tubercular lesions ; the microscope was not used and 

 possibly the post mortem examinations were not as thorough 

 and complete as they might have been. Admitting that the 

 19 cases were not tuberculous this would be less than one 

 error in 500 tests. In Massachusetts, the cattle commis- 

 sioners have tested over 25,000 cattle and they have found 

 the tuberculin test to fail in one out of every 400 cases tested. 

 No diagnostic method can show a better record, and no 

 other method can detect 75 per cent, of the cases of tuber- 

 culosis in 25,000 cattle. 



Last year the Inter-National Congress of Veterinarians 

 adopted the following committee report : 



"The committee are agreed that tuberculin is a very valu- 

 able assistant in the discovery of tuberculosis. The occa- 

 sional failures for which it is responsible are without practi- 

 cal significance." (Nocard, Bang and Hess.) 



The Massachusetts Board of Cattle Commissioners have 

 tested more animals than the United States government and 

 all the other States. They testify as follows : 



"First. That tuberculin is a reliable agent for determin- 

 ing tuberculosis in cattle. 



"Second. That tuberclin, properly prej^ared and carefully 

 handled, can have no injurious effects upon healthy cattle. 



"Third. That it is the only known means whereby a posi- 

 tive diagnosis can be made in the early stages of the 

 disease." 



PEEVENTATIVE MEASURES THAT MAY BE ADOPTED BY THE STOCK- 

 OWNER. 



The following is taken from Dr. Law's Bulletin : 



"If he will the stockowner can extirpate this disease from 

 his herd and thereafter keep the herd from such contamina- 

 tion. The following are the main precautions necessary to 

 this end : 



1st. Board up the partitions of the stalls at the front so 

 that no two cows can feed from the same manger nor lick 

 each other. 



2d. Keep each animal strictly by its own stall and 

 manger. 



