1889.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 4. 409 



and brought up on this place, as well as were my father and grandfather, 

 and I never knew of or heard of the existence of a case of tuberculosis 

 in the town until the arrival of one from Palmer in November, 1887, 

 and can therefore safely say that none ever existed here before. 

 Yours truly, 



Henkt J. AVashbuen. 



During the year 1885 Mr. C. S. Emerton of Peabody re- 

 stocked his farm, having during the previous year sold all 

 the cattle then on the ftirm. He would occasionally have a 

 cow run down, and dispose of her, but gave little or no heed 

 to the trouble. During the fall of 1887 several failed in 

 their milking qualities, and did not clean after calving. This 

 led to an examination of the cows, and tuberculosis was 

 found to exist. Those that presented the symptoms of this 

 disease had been in the herd from a few months to as many 

 years. Not responding to the grain given them, and gradu- 

 ally losing flesh, nineteen mature cows and all the calves 

 raised on the farm were killed, and an examination^ after 

 death showed the changes due to tuberculosis. In the spring 

 of 1887 a bull was bought in Vermont, and in the foil he was 

 killed, having well-marked symptoms of the disease. These 

 animals were grade Holsteins and natives. The result of 

 this outbreak was that all the bovines on the farm were either 

 killed or disposed of otherwise, and his loss has been his 

 entire herd, or forty head, during the past few years. 



In the spring of 1887 Dr. J. Penniman, V. S., of 

 Worcester, was called to a farm, and while there he noticed a 

 cow that was coughing, thin in flesh and apparently diseased 

 with tuberculosis. On making inquiry about her, he learned 

 that she had been coughing quite a long time and had not 

 done well. This led him to note the condition of the others, 

 and in a short time he heard nearly all the rest of the herd 

 cough. Within a few days he was called to make a post- 

 mortem examination of an animal, and on arrival found the 

 cow dead about which he had made inquiry, and the exami- 

 nation revealed general tuberculosis with phthisis. In a few 

 weeks from this time the owner desired him to make a criti- 

 cal examination of all the cows on the farm, numbering 

 seventeen head of grade Jersey, Ayrshire, Shorthorns and 

 Devons. The result of the examination was that a two-year- 



