Under the law of 1894 the duties of these inspectors con- 

 sisted in the examination, at the time of slaughter, of all neat 

 stock slaughtered at slaughter houses licensed under the pro- 

 visions of law ; the regular inspection of all neat stock within 

 the limits of their cities or towns, at such time as the Board of 

 Cattle Commissioners should designate ; and the further inspec- 

 tion from time to time of all animals suspected of having any 

 of the contagious diseases named in the act. 



Under the provisions of chapter 496 of the Acts of the year 

 1895, these duties were extended by requiring that these regu- 

 lar inspections should include the examination of all sheep and 

 swine, as well as neat cattle, as was formerly provided. This 

 law further required that the carcasses of all sheep and swine 

 slaughtered at licensed slaughter houses should be subject to 

 the same systematic examination formerly required in the case 

 of neat cattle only. 



In this connection the Board desires to state that, while it 

 has made a widely extended and very thoroughly conducted 

 examination of all reported cases of tuberculosis among sheep 

 in this State, it has as yet been unable to demonstrate its 

 presence among them. 



"While this has been true in Massachusetts, it is right to say, 

 here, that authoritative reports of the discovery of tuberculosis 

 in sheep have been made, from time to time, as follows : — 



