No. 4.] CATTLE COMMISSIONERS. 401) 



by the veterinarian. Occasionally a badly diseased cow may fail 

 to react, l)nt these cases ought to be perceptible from the physical 

 condition of the creature ; but when a man is testing a lai'ge num- 

 ber, and has gotten into the habit of depending entirely ou tuber- 

 culin, he may overlook such a case. In my experience, a cow's 

 failing to react to a second test made soon after the fu'st one is 

 not as frequent as many persons believe ; in the majority of cases 

 an animal that has given a marked reaction once is very likely to 

 react again. 



Numerous specific instances of dishonest work might be given. 

 Last autumn an Ontario graduate, supposed to be one of the lead- 

 ing veterinarians of New Hampshire, was called to Dracut, Mass., 

 to test a cow just brought in from across the line, held in quaran- 

 tine until a certificate of test was sent in. Soon after, suspecting 

 that all was not right, I proceeded to Dracut, and went with the 

 inspector of animals to see about releasing the cow. I asked the 

 owner if she liad been tested. He said : " Oh, yes ; the man came 

 and stuck the tubule right into her ; took it out of his pocket and 

 stuck it in." Asked how long he was there and how many times 

 he called, he said he "only seen him once, and he was only 

 there a few moments." All he had done was to take the cow's 

 temperature, make a physical examination, and then give a cer- 

 tificate of tuberculin test. The cow' failed to pass when properly 

 tested later. This veterinarian called to see me, and denied that 

 he ever did such a thing before, but acknowledged his transgres- 

 sion in the case I caught him ou, and said he would be very care- 

 ful in the future. The words were hardly cold from his mouth 

 before he was called upon to test a lot of cows to be sold at auc- 

 tion in southern New Hampshire, some of which might be brought 

 into Massachusetts. A number were brought in with his certifi- 

 cate and held by the commission and tested ; several reacted, 

 showing that they either were not tested properly or probably not 

 at all. It is needless to sa}"^ that his tests will not any longer be 

 accepted by our Board. This is only one example of a number 

 that I might give. 



Early in June a large Jersey breeder in Pennsylvania had Dr. 

 Francis Bridge test a number of cattle he intended selling at 

 auction, and sold them with his certificates. A neighbor was 

 going to have an auction of Jersey cattle at about the same time, 

 and he thought it would be a favorable opportunity to have Dr. 

 Bridge test his. I believe there was quite a large number, — over 

 one hundred, if I am correctly informed, — and some twenty odd 

 failed to pass, and Dr. Bridge refused to give certificates. The 

 owner had a local veterinarian test the cattle, who gave certificates 



