THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 57 



chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry stating that 24 hours is, on 

 the average, required, covering part of 2 days. Dr. C. J. Marshall, 

 of the veterinarian department of the University of Pennsylvania, is 

 authority for the statement that an experienced man can test as 

 many as 100 head of cattle in a single night. 



Dr. Woodward states that, as a matter of practice, the tuberculin 

 test would ordinarily require to be applied on the farm, though some 

 cattle might, in his judgment, be tested in the hands of dealers, and 

 possibly quarantine or testing stations might be established for 

 economy in applying the test. 



It may be added that tuberculin is quite inexpensive, costing 

 approximately 10 cents per dose for a single cow, and is, besides, 

 distributed by the Department of Agriculture gratuitously to owners 

 of herds in all parts of the United States who are willing to accept it 

 upon the terms elsewhere indicated in this report. It is not a pro- 

 prietary preparation, but is compounded for the market by a number 

 of manufacturing chemists, and is easily procurable. 



TEST PRODUCES NO HARMFUL EFFECTS. 



The contention that the application of the tuberculin test has a 

 permanently prejudicial effect upon the animal tested is, in the judg- 

 ment of the committee, unsupportable, since it is generally recognized 

 that when prepared for use tuberculin contains no germs of tubercu- 

 losis and is absolutely incapable of producing any disease. It has 

 been demonstrated, moreover, at the Bethesda Experiment Station of 

 the Department of Agriculture, that as high as 1,000 doses of tuber- 

 culin administered at a single time has produced no appreciable 

 injury in healthy animals, and cattle killed after the injection of 

 larger quantities of tuberculin have show r n no symptoms of abnormal 

 conditions. It has been clearly proved also that the application of 

 the test does not in any way interfere with the milking function in 

 healthy cattle, nor has any variation been detected in the quantity of 

 milk given or in its butter-fat value. 



The test should be applied, however, only when the temperature of 

 the animal is normal, and not within 15 days before or 5 days after 

 parturition. 



Since tubercle bacilli and colon bacilli are the only pathogenic 

 micro-organisms contained, as a rule, in milk as taken from the cow 

 (typhoid^ diphtheria, scarlet fever, and other germs being intro- 

 duced subsequently by contamination), the tuberculin test would 

 appear to be the only precautionary measure of this nature which 

 should be required by law to be made. 



PROPOSED RESTRICTION OF USE OF TUBERCULIN. 



There is a lack of harmony among those consulted by the committee 

 as to whether the application of tuberculin should be restricted to 

 officials of the Government and its duly authorized agents, though 

 there is a preponderance of opinion in favor of such restriction. 

 Some authorities, however, believe that governmental, or duly quali- 

 fied and licensed, veterinarians should be allowed to administer the 

 test. The Surgeon General of the Navy agrees with the Chief of the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry that its use should be restricted to prop- 



