464 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



lished by the commission at these markets, animals where 

 tuberculosis was not detected with tuberculin were branded 

 before being freed from quarantine. After the animals were 

 so branded they passed out of the control of the Board, and 

 the commission had no means of following them, to determine 

 whether or not they subsequently showed any evidence of 

 tuberculosis, and, if so, whether the presence of such disease, 

 afterwards found, indicated that the animals were affected at 

 the time when the brand was affixed. The commission has had 

 within its observation very few instances of such animals being 

 found affected with tuberculosis upon subsequent slaughter. 



The slaughter houses at Brighton are under the supervision 

 and control of the health department of the city of Boston, 

 and on page 114 of the report of that department for the 

 year 1894 (City Document, No. 13) will be found the fol- 

 lowing : — 



The following table shows the number of animals killed, which 

 failed to react to the tuberculin test, and had been pronounced free 

 from tuberculosis, the Commonwealth brand having been placed upon 

 the right hip : — 



In regard to this work, it should be remembered that the 

 undertaking was experimental, for the purpose of determining 

 whether the tuberculin test could be successfully applied to 

 animals coming to these markets, under the conditions which 

 existed there, without serious inconvenience to the dealers, in 

 a way that would assure purchasers that the cattle there dealt 

 in were free from tuberculosis ; and this commission stated, in 

 its report for the year 1894, on page 23, that : — 



"With the adoption of the tuberculin test, the Board determined to 

 inaugurate, if possible, some practical method whereby all the cattle 



