/891.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT— No. 4. 899 



found all the animals in good condition and in apparent 

 health, food good and abundant, and hygienic conditions 

 unexceptionable ; but, from the statement of a veterinarian 

 that one of the cows had a tuberculous development in her 

 udder, they ordered the isolation of the whole herd, forbade 

 the owner from selling his milk without an examination to 

 see if it was infected by the disease, and notified the Cattle 

 Commissioners of a case of contagion requiring their atten- 

 tion. The Commissioners answered the call, and pursued 

 the course in relation to it, which is indicated above. After 

 causing the owner of the herd a great deal of annoyance, 

 injury to his business, pecuniary loss, and the removal 

 of the one suspected cow, all restraint was removed, the 

 usual business of the farm was resumed, and the commis- 

 sioners have no knowledge that there has been any disease 

 or suspicion of it on the premises for the last eleven 

 months. 



By the radical action of the board of health, the peculiar 

 temperament and interests of the owner of the cattle, the 

 sensational and overdrawn statements of newspaper corre- 

 spondents and reporters, the Medford case was soon made 

 famous ; but, stripped of all extraneous matter and ill feel- 

 ing, it was a very simple affair, and might have been easily 

 disposed of with very little notoriety. Succinctly stated, it 

 was as follows : Complaint was made to the board of health 

 of the filthy and unhealthy condition of a certain stable and 

 its surrounding grounds, and also of the herd of thirty- four 

 cows kept therein, which were making milk for market. 

 An examination by the board fully sustained the complaint. 

 They at once ordered isolation, and put the premises in 

 charge of a policeman, to prevent either cattle or milk from 

 being removed, and notified the Cattle Commissioners. Our 

 board answered the call, and made an examination of the 

 stock. We found the animals had been abundantly fed, 

 and most of them in good condition ; a few new arrivals 

 were thin in flesh, and four or five might fairly be suspected 

 of infection with tuberculosis. The sanitary condition ol 

 the establishment was so bad that it was just to call it a nui- 

 sance. We pursued the same course as with the Waltham 

 case, which we have previously indicated. If this establish- 



