No. 4.] CATTLE COMMISSIONERS' REPORT. 379 



this Board, during the early part of the present year, the Board 

 of Health of the city of Boston appointed an additional inspector 

 at Brighton, to assure the prompt and thorough examination 

 of the stock; notwithstanding which this office continued to l)e 

 in receipt of complaints from buyers that the neat stock pur- 

 chased at these markets was still found to be more or less tuber- 

 culous. It had been therefore pretty thoroughly demonstrated 

 to the satisfaction of this Board hy something more than two 

 years of actual experience that the health of the stock sold 

 thereat could not be determined to any appreciable degree by 

 means of physical examinations. 



With the adoption of the tuberculin test the Board determined 

 to inaugurate if possible some practical method, whereby all of 

 the cattle coming to these markets should be subjected to that 

 test before being offered for sale. Whether or not, in view 

 of the circumstances under which these animals have to be 

 examined, such a result can be obtained by the tuberculin test 

 still remains to be proved. 



In connection with this use of tuberculin at these markets, it 

 should be remembered that the test is a purely scientific method 

 of determining the existence of the disease by measuring the 

 reactions caused by its injection, as shown by the temperature 

 of the animal at given periods after the inoculation. 



In the case of an animal under normal conditions, where it is 

 free from excitement, where it is only being fed at the times 

 designated by the person ap})lying the test, where it is allowed 

 to drink water only under the same circumstances, — in fact, 

 where all conditions are entirely within control of the examiner, 

 the temperature table shows a regular and consecutive variation, 

 which can be relied upon to determine the result. Like every 

 other scientific test, experience shows that a manifold number 

 of unforeseen conditions may come in to complicate the result ; 

 and it is only after a careful study of these conditions and a 

 thorough consideration of the effect produced by them that 

 their values can be eliminated in arriving at a satisfactory 

 result. The whole experience of the commission with tuber- 

 culin has shown this to be true ; and the}^ have found that, while 

 animals under a normal condition, when subjected to this test, 

 will always show a well-defined result, upon which the existence 

 or the non-existence of the disease can be practically demon- 



