358 THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 



Other tests have been made in Virginia and Maryland. In Virginia, from 

 July 1, 1909, to June 30, 1910, there were tested 899 cattle, of which 162 reacted, 

 39 were held as suspicious, and the per cent of reacters and suspects was 18.27. 



In Maryland, in the same time, 289 were tested. Forty-eight reacted, 6 

 were suspected, and the percentage of reacters and suspects was 15.74. 



During that same period of time there were retested in Virginia and Mary- 

 land, animals previously tested. In Virginia 923 passed, 39 reacted, 4 were 

 held as suspects, making a percentage on the retest of 4.45 per cent, a reduction 

 from 18.27 from the first test. 



In Maryland, on the retest, 301 passed, 5 reacted, 3 were suspects, making 

 a percentage of reacters and suspects of 2.58, a reduction from 15.74. 



CONDITIONS IN DISTRICT. 



In the District we have retested and found free from tuberculosis 423; we 

 have found 31 reacters and 1 suspect, or a percentage of reacters and suspects 

 of 7.03. 



We have demonstrated beyond any question the feasibility of eliminating 

 tuberculosis by three or four tests of this sort. In the tests that we made here 

 in the District tuberculosis was demonstrated in cattle that reacted in something 

 over 98 per cent of the cases. 



We found in 126 cattle in and near the city of Washington that tuberculosis 

 was demonstrated in 99.21 per cent of the cases which reacted. In a table I 

 made as a result of the tuberculin testing of cattle by State and Federal officers 

 with tuberculin prepared by the Bureau of Animal Industry, we found that 

 between 1893 and 1908, there were tested 400,008 cattle. The number reacting 

 was 37,000. These were in all parts of the United States, and were a per- 

 centage of 9.25 of all cattle tested. 



The number slaughtered under inspection was 24,784; the number of these 

 found tuberculous upon post mortem was 24,387, or 98,39 per cent. 



DB. MOHLEB'S STATEMENT. 



Dr. Mohler's testimony was as follows : 



Introductory to my statement concerning the tuberculin test I would present 

 extracts from bulletins on bovine tuberculosis in Virginia and Maryland, 

 States which now supply the greatest amount of milk to the citizens of the 

 District of Columbia. I refer first to the statement of Dr. Buckley, of the 

 Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station. He says: 



" Usually the discovery of an agent which, when properly used by compe- 

 tent persons, enables them to detect positively the existence of a condition that 

 is not revealed by any other means is hailed as a wonderful triumph. If the 

 opposition to the use of tuberculin as a diagnostic agent came from those, only, 

 who were ignorant of its properties and who could not inform themselves of its 

 virtues it would be wholly excusable. The practice of using tuberculin, how- 

 ever, has been and is now condemned by some who know its value and who 

 have been in a position to observe its reliability." 



On the other side of our line, in Virginia, I would like to take a sentence 

 from the book of Dr. Nelson Mayo. He is the veterinary in charge of the 

 agricultural station at Blacksburg, Va. In his book, on page 382, he states 

 as follows : 



" The most accurate means of detecting tuberculosis in cattle is by injecting 

 a small amount of tuberculin beneath the skin. When prepared for use, 

 tuberculin contains no germs of tuberculosis and is incapable of producing 

 any disease." 



TUBEBCULIN HABMLESS. 



During the last 15 years statistics with reference to bovine tuberculosis show 

 that over 98 per cent of the animals tested show adhesions at the post-mortem. 

 Tuberculin is the most accurate diagnostic agent known when it is in the hands 

 of competent men. As to the possibility of defeating the test, the farmer might 

 infect his cattle before the inspector comes around. The best means to prevent 

 this would be for the inspector to stay with the herd about 24 hours. An 

 attempt to defeat the tuberculin test should be considered as any other fraud 

 and guarded against by precautions. 



I would like to speak of the Report of the International Commission on the 

 Control of Bovine Tuberculosis, of which I was a member, and to leave a copy 

 of the report with you and call your attention to this resolution in it: 



