132 ESSENTIALS OF VETERINARY LAW 



tion of cattle which were in fact not a nuisance, 

 nor a cause of sickness endangering public health, 

 but were mistakenly adjudged by him so to be. 

 This was not an error in judgment, but it was the 

 result of too slight examination into the facts, 

 and he thereby exceeded his authority.^ In 

 another instance a professor in a normal school 

 was a member of a board of health and he found 

 that wood alcohol was contained in the vanilla 

 flavoring in a certain bakery. He published an 

 article in a local paper in which he referred to 

 ''The recent finding of wood alcohol in the so- 

 called vanilla used in one of our local bakeries," 

 and after saying that good vanilla costs about 

 $12.00 per gallon, wholesale, asked "What can 

 one expect for $2.75?" He did not mention the 

 name of the baker, though he was easily identified. 

 The professor was found guilty of libel, on the 

 ground that the article was not a plain, ofificial, 

 statement of facts, but that it was evidently in- 

 spired by a vindictive spirit. It intimated that 

 the baker bought his vanilla for $2.75 per gallon; 

 but the baker showed that he paid $4.00 per 

 gallon."^ 



Where the officer of health keeps within his 

 authority neither he, nor the city, nor the state, 

 nor the nation can be held liable in damages to 

 those who may be injured through his act. But 

 when he exceeds his authority he is legally re- 

 garded as no longer an officer, and he must 

 personally bear the consequences. "Absence of 

 bad faith can never excuse a trespass, though the 



G Lowe V. Conroy, 120 Wis. ^ Hubbard v. Allyn, 200 



151, 97 N. W, 942. Mass. 166, 86 N. E. 356. 



