12 UNIVERSITY OP WISCONSIN STUDIES 



great importance of the bacteria in the life and work of the 

 dairy and farm, but also with the inspiration for their work. 



The first annual report of the Agricultural Experiment 

 Station of the University of Wisconsin, published after the 

 appointment of the bacteriologist, contained four papers by 

 him; one on the relation of bacteria to milk and three on 

 bovine tuberculosis, two lines which were to be followed 

 actively for many years. In each subsequent report of the 

 Station and in a number of bulletins were presented the re- 

 sults of the research work of the department. 



It is impossible to review in any detail the things accom- 

 plished. A few of the chief lines of endeavor will be men- 

 tioned. In 1892 Robert Koch prepared tuberculin, a product 

 that was not to fulfill the hopes of him and his friends as a 

 therapeutic agent, but whose value as a diagnostic agent in 

 the case of bovine tuberculosis was soon recognized. The 

 college herd was tested in February, 1894. This test was 

 one of the first made in this country and the first made west 

 of the Allegheny Mountains. Twenty-five of the thirty 

 animals comprising the herd were found to be diseased. The 

 whole herd was destroyed and a new herd formed which for 

 twenty years has served as an example to the farmers of the 

 state of what can be done in the control of this disease. The 

 destruction of the college herd was a serious step and one 

 that would have been authorized only by a far-seeing adminis- 

 trator as the history of the Experiment Station and College 

 of Agriculture has and is showing Professor Henry to have 

 been. The tendency then as now was to temporize with the 

 disease. No question remains as to the wisdom of the decision 

 made in 1894 with reference to the fate of the college herd. 

 Twenty years later sister institutions were still hesitating 

 about doing with their herds what they were advising the 

 farmer to do with his. 



The pioneer in any line of human endeavor is not likely 

 to see the fruition of his work. To no one is this more likely 

 to happen than to the investigator in agricultural fields. Facts 

 are discovered, the importance of which is most evident to 

 those whose background of knowledge enables them to appre- 



