198 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



attention to supplying the demand for biological products it 

 is very nmch like a small boy playing with a buzz saw. 



Diphtheria antitoxin, vaccine virus and similar products 

 should be prepared only in State laboratories by men who put 

 honor above dollars, and have something at stake in their 

 reputation as scientists. Having foot-and-mouth disease 

 escape from these commercial establishments twice within 

 less than a decade has cost the country millions of dollars, to 

 say nothing of the danger to human health from contaminated 

 vaccine virus, and it is time a halt was called upon this sys- 

 tem, and some method of controlling these disasters instituted. 



Rabies. 



During the year ending ISTov. 30, 1908, rabies has con- 

 tinued to be very prevalent and troublesome, but has dimin- 

 ished somewhat from the preceding year. 



The report for the year ending ISTov. 30, 1907, showed that 

 there were still in quarantine 209 dogs, 1 cow, 2 horses and 

 a cat. Of these, 186 dogs, 2 horses and the cat were later 

 released from quarantine, and the cow and 20 dogs were 

 killed by the owners or died from some other cause than 

 rabies, and 3 dogs developed this disease and either died of 

 it or were killed. 



The following table shows the extent to which the disease 

 has prevailed, exclusive of Boston, during the past year : — 



In addition to the animals there have been at least 5, pos- 

 sibly 6, cases of rabies among humans, 2 in Boston, 1 in 

 [N'ewton, a little girl from Southbridge at the Worcester Hos- 



