536 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



many hundreds of tests. Since Nov. 20, 1894, this Board has 

 made 26,958 tests, and, as a result, it is prepared to reaffirm 

 every word and line contained in that declaration. 



We have already shown in detail, in other portions of this 

 report, the results obtained by the commission from the use of 

 tuberculin the present year. This experience shows that it is a 

 remarkably accurate agent when properly applied under well- 

 known necessary conditions. There is no other known means 

 of diagnosing bovine tuberculosis except what is known as the 

 physical examination. Such an examination is utterly unre- 

 liable, and has been discarded by this commission as an ulti- 

 mate test, as it has by all other commissions and scientific men 

 working in this direction throughout the known world. The 

 experience of the commission for the past year has shown that 

 physical examination would have failed to detect the presence 

 of the disease in the vast majority of the animals tested upon 

 voluntary request ; and, on the other hand, tuberculin showed 

 that the disease was not present in more than 55A per cent, 

 of the animals which had been quarantined as suspicious upon 

 a physical examination by the local inspectors. Such is the 

 opinion of this Board, based upon its experience. 



That a 'similar result has been reached by many others work- 

 ing in the same direction and with the same agent, the follow- 

 ing extracts will show. 



Resolution passed by the Association of Cattle Commissions 

 of the New England States, July 25 : — 



As a body, we heartily endorse and recommend the use of tuber- 

 culin as being the only reliable agent now known for the detection of 

 tuberculosis in cattle. We also further believe that no harm what- 

 ever comes from its use in animals that are free from tuberculosis. 

 No physical examination should be regarded as being reliable unless 

 it has been accompanied by a properly made test with tuberculin. 

 We further believe that no test should be made by other than prac- 

 tised competent persons, who will carefully follow all the known 

 requirements for obtaining correct results. 



At the annual meeting of the State Board of Agriculture, 

 held at Dalton in December, the following recommendations 

 were made : — 



