No. 4.] CATTLE COMMISSIONERS. 497 



It is to be hoped that a rigid enforcement of the law in the 

 future will lead to a diminution in glanders and farcy ; but 

 at present it is a great source of loss to horse owners and a 

 danger to the community. • 



A number of the doubtful cases decided by the guinea pig 

 test were of a chronic character, that may have been spread- 

 ing the disease for several months, or even longer. The 

 killing of such animals may have an effect in lessening the 

 number of future cases. 



Rabies. 



At the time of compiling the last report upon rabies, which 

 carried up to Dec. 15, 1898, there were held in quarantine 

 by the Cattle Commission eleven dogs which had been bitten, 

 or were in neighborhoods where they might have been bitten, 

 by dogs that were rabid or suspected of being afflicted with 

 this disorder. Three of these animals were in Lynn, and 

 had been bitten by a dog supposed to be rabid. The head 

 of the latter was sent to the commission in October, 1898, 

 and rabbits were inoculated with material from his brain. At 

 the end of ninety days the rabbits were still healthy, and 

 the three quarantined canines were released Dec. 21, 1898. 

 The other eight still in quarantine a year ago last December 

 were what remained from an outbreak when twelve dogs 

 were quarantined in Newton in a neighborhood where there 

 was a case of rabies. Two of these had died of rabies, and 

 two had been shot by their owners as a matter of precaution 

 at the time of making the last report. The remaining eight 

 were still healthy Dec. 21, 1898, when the ninety-day period 

 of quarantine expired, and they were ordered released. 



Just after completing the last annual report there was an 

 outbreak of rabies in that part of Boston known as Dor- 

 chester, near Milton Lower Mills. A dog was reported by 

 the inspector of the Boston board of health* as having had 

 rabies. The board of health "notified" the owners of a 

 number of other dogs in the vicinity to keep them in quar- 

 antine. One of these animals was reported to have died of 



* Under special act of 1899, he now has a legal power to quarantine dogs exposed 

 to rabies, or horses suspected of having glanders or farcy, independently of the 

 Cattle Commission ; prior to that time he had to secxire the co-operation of the com- 

 mission to quarantine animals legally. 



