478 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Animals destroyed as Tuberculous. 



Cattle, 89 



Sheep, - 



Swine, 30 



Number of towns reporting licensed slaughter houses, ... 71 



Number of licensed slaughter houses reported, .... 172 



In addition to the cases of tuberculosis that the commis- 

 sion has dealt with in the regular way, 50 cases have been 

 reported by different persons since the inspection of slaugh- 

 tered animals was placed in the charge of the boards of 

 health. These have been found in the slaughter houses, 

 or have been killed with the owners' consent (they waiving 

 their right to compensation from the State), or have been 

 reported by renderers. 



Bovine tuberculosis requires to be looked upon from two 

 different stand-points : one, the possible danger to human life 

 and health from the use of the flesh and dairy products of 

 animals with a disease analogous to, if not identical with, 

 tuberculosis in mankind ; the other, as a troublesome, infec- 

 tious disease of cattle, causing large annual losses to our 

 farmers and breeders by the deaths or diminution in value 

 of the neat stock, as well as the shrinkage in their products, 

 making them a less source of profit to their owners than 

 healthy cattle. 



The problem of the management of bovine tuberculosis is 

 attracting the attention of all civilized nationalities at the 

 present time, especially in those localities where cattle are 

 kept in a state of close cohabitation, for the purpose of 

 utilizing their dairy products by the sale of milk or the 

 manufacture of butter and cheese. The question is not of 

 such vital importance in beef-producing communities, where 

 the cattle are less closely confined and range over large areas 

 of territory, as here it is not propagated so readily or rap- 

 idly, and hence is a source of less danger and loss ; that is, 

 the close confinement and sanitary (or rather unsanitary) 

 surroundings under which dairy cattle and young animals 

 being bred for the dairy are kept renders them peculiarly 

 susceptible to the ravages of this scourge ; in addition to 

 this, lactation is a constant source of depletion to vitality in 

 the milch cow. 



At the Seventh International Congress of Veterinary Sur- 



