582 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pul^. Doc. 



Another imjiortant part of the work of the local inspectors 

 is the inspection of the milch herds. In this connection the 

 Board would specially call attention to the necessity of 

 makino; a careful examination of the udder, and the imme- 

 diate quarantining of the cow in which any abnormal con- 

 dition of this organ is found. • Cows showing any physical 

 evidence of disease should immediately be quarantined, and 

 in questionable cases, tested with tuberculin. No cows in a 

 sickly or unhealthy condition are fit for dairy purposes, and 

 their use as dairy cows should be prohiljited. 



A great deal has been made of Ernst and Peters' experi- 

 ments at Mattapan, conducted under the auspices of the 

 Society for Promoting Agriculture. In these experiments 

 36 cows in all were experimented with, and the bacillus of 

 tuberculosis was found in the milk of 12 diflerent animals. 



Experiments were made by inoculating 88 guinea pigs with milk 

 from 15 of these tul^evculous cows. The milk from 6 was found 

 capable of producing the disease, and 12 of these 88 guinea pigs 

 became infected. 



In another series of experiments, 90 rabbits were inoculated 

 with milk from 19 different tuberculous cows. The milk of only 

 4 of the cows produced the disease, and only 6 of the 90 rabbits 

 became infected. 



Again, 48 rabbits were fed with milk from 5 tuberculous cows, 

 and with milk known to be infected, and only 2 rabbits became 

 diseased ; both of these rabbits were fed on milk from the same 

 cow (cow E), which was badly diseased. 



Twelve healthy pigs fed on milk from these same cows gave a 

 larger proportion of cases, 5 out of the 12 becoming tuberculous; 

 but it should be noticed that 3 of the 5 were fed on milk from one 

 cow (cow E) . Further, it was milk fi'om this same cow that in- 

 fected the rabbits in the last series of experiments referred to. 



It should l)e remarked that these experiments were carried 

 on with the object of showing only that cow's milk may be 

 dangerous even when the udder is not affected. Now, it 

 must be remem1)ered that at that time tuberculin was not 

 known as a diagnostic agent for the detection of tuberculosis, 

 and all of the cows used in these experiments were picked 

 out hy physical examination alone, and nearly all were badly 

 diseased cows with generalized tuberculosis ; while a large 



