BEGINNINGS 21 



which enable them to earn a good living after they have acquired 

 the necessary skill. 



As an item of historical interest in the combat of tuberculosis 

 in animals, we must not fail to remember the pioneer work of Dr. 

 Leonard Pearson. In the Journal of the American Veterinary 

 Medical Association of January, 1921, Dr. L. A. Klein has this to 

 say about Pearson's work: 



"The first tuberculin test made on this continent was applied in 1892 near 

 Villa Nova, 20 miles west of Philadelphia, to a herd of pure-bred Jersey cattle 

 by L. Pearson. There were 76 cattle in the herd, some of them imported and 

 all pure-bred; and 51 reacted to the test. On March 16, 1892, six of them were 

 brought to the veterinary school and killed for postmortem examination. 

 Pearson was a student in Germany in 1890 when Koch discovered tuberculin. 

 During the following three years Pearson used the tuberculin test in his private 

 practice. Its efficiency and reliability were recognized by veterinarians, phy- 

 sicians, sanitary officials and the more progressive livestock owners when they 

 became more familiar with it. But the opposition of some of the livestock 

 owners and journals continued for a long time. In 1895, when the Pennsyl- 

 vania State Livestock Sanitary Board was organized and Pearson became its 

 secretary, he introduced the principle of testing herds on the voluntary applica- 

 tion of the owner. This principle was the keystone of what became known as 

 the Pennsylvania plan for controlling tuberculosis, and it is also one of the fea- 

 tures of the accredited herd plan. Viewed from a purely economic standpoint, 

 and laying aside the question of public health, the control and eradication of 

 tuberculosis in cattle is a matter of great importance not only to the cattle 

 owner, but also to all consumers of meat and milk." 



