No. 4.] CATTLE COMMISSIONERS' REPORT. 405 



sesscd of great vitality, and the thorough disinfection of barns 

 is an impossibility ; as a result, as has already been the experi- 

 ence of some, when barns are restocked the disease will in all 

 likelihood spread afresh. What use, then, in spending enor- 

 mous sums of money and burdening the State with an expense 

 that will not result in permanent good ? " 



No fair deduction can be drawn from these facts, because, 

 until the new stock which are put into such barns have been 

 proved to be free from the disease by the use of tuberculin or 

 other proper method, which has never yet been adopted, it is 

 impossible to say whether the existence of the disease in the 

 stock is due to the germs contained in the building or is already 

 in the body of the new animals which have been introduced. 



It must be remembered that this work is comparatively new, 

 and it has not been proved that it is impossible to properly dis- 

 infect buildings so as to remove the germs. Not Only is the 

 Board endeavoring to eradicate the sources of contagion by 

 the destruction of the animals aftected, but it is also endeavor- 

 ing to disinfect the premises where the contagion has been 

 found and from which all the diseased animals have been 

 removed. As a matter of fact, within the experience of mem- 

 bers of the commission it has happened that a large herd of 

 cattle were examined with tuberculin ; that a number of the 

 animals, being all that were found diseased, were removed and 

 killed ; that the barns were thoroughly disinfected ; and that 

 the animals which had been destroyed were replaced from time 

 to time by others which had been subjected to the tuberculin 

 test, and found to be sound, before being allowed to enter the 

 stal)le. After a period of nine months the entire herd was 

 again examined with tuberculin, and not a single case of tuber- 

 culosis was found among them. 



It has further been stated, by a person of some prominence 

 in the veterinary profession, that "the real tuberculosis is 

 only found in a few worn-out cows. For years such cows 

 have been killed whenever found, and it does not necessitate 

 any injection or other test to spot them. I venture to say that 

 no cow that has been killed by the State agents for the past 

 year has been a sufferer from tuberculosis." 



If ' ' the real tuberculosis is only found in a few worn-out 

 cows," it is true that it does not necessitate any injection or 



