XXIV PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 



On the prevalence of tuberculosis in cattle in various 

 •countries Nocard says the power which tuberculosis possesses of 

 spreading among cattle is not sufficiently known. There are 

 some countries among the most advanced in breeding, rearing, 

 and animal hygiene, where the number of tuberculous cattle is 

 more than 20 per cent, of the total bovine population. In 

 Saxony, for instance, the official statistics of the abattoirs under 

 inspection show that the number of animals recognised as tuber- 

 culous was in 1891, 17*4 per cent. ; in 1892. 17*79 per cent. ; in 

 1893, 18-2G per cent. ; while in some towns the proportion 

 reached 80 per cent. At the Copenhagen abattoir the proportion 

 of tuberculous animals in 1891 reached 30 per cent. Out of 

 125,000 cattle slaughtered in Berhn in 1891 almost 15,000, or 12 

 per cent., were tuberculous. At the abattoir of Toulouse in 1889, 

 1,254 animals out of 13,507 were found to be tuberculous. As 

 the terms of inspection did not meet with the wishes of the 

 -owners, the number of tuberculous animals fell in 1890 to 340 

 out of 12,094 slaughtered, about a quarter of the number of the 

 preceding year. The surplus had lieen turned on to private 

 slaughter. houses not under inspection. 



Although legislation with regard to tuberculosis and the 

 inspection of abattoirs in England is still in a rudimentary state, 

 we get from that country very valuable statistics. It is well- 

 . known what admirable energy, and the amount of money the 

 English have expended in order to stamp out contagious pleuro- 

 pneumonia. Their Act of 1890 orders the slaughter, not only 

 t)f the sick and susp(»cted, but also of all animals that ha^ e been 

 in contact with the sick. In 1891 there were thus slaughtered, 

 in different parts of England and Scotland, nearl}' 10,000 

 .animals (of which only 800 were sick) ; post-mortems were 

 nuide on these 10,000 animals, and 1,260 were tuberculous, or 

 12^ per cent. In 1892 the operation was continued, but was 

 .brought to bear on much smaller numbers, pleura-pneumonia 

 .being on the decrease. However, there were shiughteretl 3, GOO 

 animals (of which 1:54 were sick), and of this number nearly 

 .800 were tuberculous or 22 per cent. This high proportion is 

 due to the fact that the slaughtering operations were brought to 

 .bear on some of the most crowded and anciently infectt^/1 cow- 



