No. 4.] CATTLE COMMISSIONERS. 509 



of infection, from which the disease is distributed in a vary- 

 ing degree of prevalence throughout the country. 



In Europe, being an older country, and the raising of 

 special breeds having reached a higher state of development 

 at an earlier period than in this country, tuberculosis was 

 exceedingly prevalent long before any importance was at- 

 tached to it here. As illustrating the method of its spread 

 to the United States, the story was recently told, by a 

 gentleman of large experience, that many years ago a veter- 

 inary practitioner went over to Scotland on a visit ; before 

 leaving here he was asked by a friend to select several cows 

 of a certain breed for shipment to this State. On his arrival 

 he visited a celebrated stock farm, where he made a selec- 

 tion, and the sale was almost completed, when one day he 

 received a visit from a fellow veterinarian, practising in that 

 district, who told him that he knew the herd to be badly 

 affected with tuberculosis, and that he did not feel justified 

 in allowing him to ignorantly buy the cattle and infect the 

 stock in Massachusetts. This incident is related as showing 

 both the method of its spread to this country, and how, even 

 at that time, before its actual cause was known, the infec- 

 tious nature of tuberculosis was realized and dreaded by 

 those who were familiar with its character. 



The percentage of infected animals in almost all European 

 countries is very high; in Leipzig, out of 22,918 cattle 

 slaughtered for beef, 7,619 were found to be tuberculous, a 

 percentage of 33.24. In 29 different towns in Saxony, out 

 of over 84,000 cattle slaughtered for beef, 27.48 per cent, 

 were found tuberculous, as has already been noticed. In 

 Denmark the percentage of infected animals in various herds 

 in different districts varied from 15.8 to 43.2 per cent., with 

 a total percentage in 5,306 herds, including 98,901 sound 

 animals and 45,899 reacting animals, of 31.7. In Great 

 Britain, as in other places, it is more prevalent in some 

 districts than others. In Cheshire, for example, in a herd 

 of 90 cows, 70 were found to be infected, a percentage 

 of 77 per cent., while in 6 herds in the same neighborhood 

 63 per cent, were found to be infected. Of 12,000 cattle 

 slaughtered in England for contagious pleuro-pneumonia, 12 

 per cent, were found to be infected with tuberculosis. 



