No. 4.] REPORT OF CATTLE BUREAU. 199 



the Acts of 1907 does this in part, which provides that certain 

 reports required, by section 70 of chapter 56 and sections 100 

 and 111 of chapter 75 of the Revised Laws, to be made by 

 boards of health, corporations and persons to the Board of 

 Cattle Commissioners, shall hereafter be made to the Chief of 

 the Cattle Bureau of the State Board of Agriculture ; and 

 that the penalties for failure to give such notice to the Chief 

 of the Cattle Bureau shall be the same as are specified in 

 such sections for failure to give such notice to the Board of 

 Cattle Commissioners. Sections 11 and 27 of chapter 90 

 of the Revised Laws, which require notices of contagious 

 diseases to be given to the Board of Cattle Commissioners, 

 need amending so as to provide that these notices be sent to 

 the Chief of the Cattle Bureau, in order to make the law 

 operative, but through a misunderstanding the last Legisla- 

 ture failed to remedy this defect ; it is to be hoped that the 

 present one will perfect the law so as to render it operative. 



Rabies. 

 - The outbreak of rabies which commenced three years ago 

 has continued during the past year to a greater extent among 

 dogs than at any time since it started. Although the number 

 of cases in dogs has been larger, the amount of damage they 

 have done to other animals and persons has been propor- 

 tionately and actually less. 



Pasteur observed that the virus of rabies in passing from 

 dog to dog became less virulent; and in this outbreak it 

 would seem that the number of cases of dumb rabies among 

 the dogs is proportionately greater, and consequently the 

 amount of damage done by them is proportionately less. But 

 3 people died from the bites of rabid dogs during the year 

 1907, as compared with 7 the previous eleven months; and 

 21 cattle, as compared with 38 the eleven months before; 

 while the number of horses* remains the same, 6 each year ; 

 yet in the twelve months ending Nov. 30, 1907, there were 

 741 cases of rabies among dogs, as compared with 327 the 

 eleven months before. Rabies, however, was much more 

 prevalent during -the first half of the year than the latter 

 half, as prior to June 1, 1,200 cases of those included in the 



