305 



culous animals without paying- any compensation was clue in a 

 srreat measure to the education of the dairy men up to the point 

 where they reahzed that the sooner they cleaned up their herds, 

 the smaller the loss would be. Besides this we were fortunate 

 enough to find in the Revised Statutes an old law which makes 

 it a misdemeanor to sell or otherwise dispose of an animal known 

 to be affected with a disease transmissible to man. As all reacting 

 animals are branded immediately with an official registered brand, 

 known to everybody, it is not easy to dispose of or even keep on 

 the premises a tuberculous animal. 



Prof. Dewar further states that tuberculosis in cattle, owing to 

 its great prevalence, cannot be dealt with like other infectious 

 diseases. It would not only upset the dairy industry, but the live 

 stock industry and other collateral industries in interfering se- 

 riously with the country's food supply. 



The same was claimed here and a milk famine was predicted 

 when suddenly more than twenty per cent of the milch cows in the 

 district were declared tuberculous. Pasteurization, however, came 

 to the rescue and the milk famine vanished. That proved one of 

 the greatest blessings for the general health of this community, 

 as the necessity for pasteurization resulted in a reorganization of 

 the Dairymen's Association and the installation of a large modern 

 electric milk purifying plant, wdiich proved so absolutely satis- 

 factory that even after all the tuberculous cows had been slaugh- 

 tered, its use was continued, and at least 75 per cent of the milk 

 consumed in Honolulu today is passed through it and reaches the 

 consumer with less than 1000 bacteria per c. c. 



In this connection it is worth mentioning that the Chief of the 

 Federal Bureau of Animal Industry sounds an earnest warning 

 against the use of un-Pasteurized milk, the same being based upon 

 the fact that it has been definitely proven that the bacillus of in- 

 fectious abortion is frequently found in commercial milk originat- 

 ing on farms where this disease occurs, not less than 11 per cent 

 of all samples examined having been found contaminated with it. 

 While it has not been definitely proven to be pathogenic to human 

 beings, it is more than likely that it is, as it causes severe lesions 

 in a variety of domestic and other animals. 



When to this is added that the prolonged drouth which has 

 prevailed here has been responsible for an unusual amount of dirt 

 in the commercial milk in Honolulu and that the disease in ques- 

 tion — infectious abortion — is known to exist here, then there is 

 every reason for taking such precautions as may add to the safety 

 of milk as a food, especially for children, and among these Pas- 

 teurization ranks as number one, whether the home or commercial 

 variety. 



The price of commercially Pasteurized milk in Honolulu has 

 recently been raised to 12 cents per quart, but frequent bacteriolo- 

 gical examination of this milk (see the appended report of the 

 Assistant Territorial Veterinarian) as compared to the untreated 



