251 



testing" (four to six times annually) of the remaining infected 

 herds is resorted to. The herds which were found clean the last 

 two times they were tested will undoubtedly remain clean if care 

 is taken to prevent their reinfection by the introduction of new 

 animals, vmless these come from other clean herds or else are kept 

 segregated until they have passed two tests with an interval of 

 four months. All herds, however, in which diseased animals (re- 

 actors) were found at this last test should now be retested every 

 three or four months until they have passed three successive 

 tests. As 60.4 per cent, of the dairy herds in the city have been 

 found clean for the past two years there still remain 39.6 per 

 cent, to be submitted to the frequent test method. As it must 

 be obvious to every dairy owner that the sooner the disease is 

 detected in an animal the less opportunity it will have to transmit 

 the infection to the other animals in the same stable, it is not ex- 

 pected that any objection will be raised by the owners, especially 

 as the present method causes little or no inconvenience to either 

 owner or animals. The experience of other communities, notably 

 the District of Columbia, has fully demonstrated that the disease 

 cannot be completely eradicated if the annual test is adhered to, 

 as it gives an infected animal, which has not yet had time to 

 develop the disease sufficiently to react to the test, the better part 

 of a year in which to become dangerous and a varying number 

 of moyths during which it may excrete the virus before appre- 

 hended by the next test. It is therefore recommended that as 

 soon as the testing of the herds in the county of Oahu. outside 

 of Honolulu, has been finished, a retest be begun of those herds 

 which were not found clean at the last test, to be followed by 

 those which were not found clean at the last two tests. 



Honolulu Quarantine Station. 



I regret to have to report that on the night of July 15 (Sun- 

 day) a dog was stolen from the station. This animal, a cross 

 between a Spitz and a Japanese spaniel, of no intrinsic value 

 whatever, had arrived from San Francisco a couple of weeks 

 previously and was expected to return to that place about the 

 end of July. In fact the health certificate required by the Cali- 

 fornia authorities had already been made out when, on the morn- 

 ing of the 16th, the keeper found the kennel empty though 

 locked (bolted), the same as when he last attended the dog Sun- 

 day night. There was also plain evidence of a person having 

 climbed over the woven wire fence to get in and of raising the 

 same from the ground to pass the dog out under it. Further 

 investigation showed that an automobile had come to the station 

 on the Ala Moana road during the night, making a sharp turn 

 outside the gate of the alley leading to the dog division and re- 

 turning the way it came. The matter was immediately laid be- 

 fore the attorney general at whose request the local police authori- 



