No. 4.] CATTLE COMMISSIONERS' REPORT. 575 



That Calf IV. should have reacted to tuberculin may possibly 

 be explained in one of two waj^s, considering, of course, that the 

 tuberculin was good and the test properly performed : (a) That, 

 at the time of injection of tuberculin, tuberculosis really did 

 exist to some trifling extent, and tliat before death this or these 

 lesions had completely healed, or (b) that some small tuberculous 

 centre escaped detection at autopsy. 



2. Of the three calves inoculated with human sputum, rich in 

 tubercle bacilli, one was free from tuberculosis, one showed nothing 

 but local lesions in the neighborhood of the point of inoculation, 

 while the third, besides minor local lesions, had only two to four 

 small tubercles in the liver. On the contrary, one of the control 

 guinea pigs was affected with general tuberculosis, which demon- 

 strates the virulence of the bacilli inoculated, while the other, 

 unfortunately, died of septicfemia. 



From these facts we are-certaiuly justified in concluding : — 



That calves are apparently not particularly susceptible to the 

 human tubercle bacillus. But, whether this non-susceptibility is 

 due to a bacillus of diminished virulence for the bovine, or to the 

 age of the animals experimented upon, or to some other cause, 

 further experiment must demonstrate. 



The w^ork of this Board, in the control of animal disease, 

 has become an exceedingly important question, and the close 

 relationship between animal disease and public health is a 

 matter of serious importance. Care should be taken, how- 

 ever, that the important agricultural interests of the Com- 

 mon w'ealth are not imperilled. 



If it were not for the many interests involved, there would 

 be little question as to the proper method of handling them. 

 The study of the best methods for the control of tuberculosis, 

 for example, is a matter that has attracted a great deal of 

 attention, and in it the student of political economy wdll 

 find a subject that will tax his ingenuity to the utmost. 



The agricultural aspect of the question is an important one. 

 Bang has suggested the possibility of raising a healthy herd 

 from a diseased one ; and, where the herd is valuable, his 

 suggestions are worthy of careful and extended experiment. 



The advocates of extreme measures, on the other hand, 

 have claimed that, if all the animals in the State were tested 

 with tuberculin, the diseased animals killed, the barns dis- 

 infected, only such animals as pass the test allowed to mix 



