DR. J. W. POUCHER. 261 



caused to be slaughtered about 800, and so important was 

 this work thought to be that in May, 1894, a commission 

 on tuberculosis in cattle was appointed. This commis- 

 sion has shown that nearly 7 per cent of all the cattle in 

 the state are tuberculous, and I believe there is a bill 

 now before our Legislature asking for an appropriation 

 large enough to enable this commission to examine every 

 head of cattle in the state. Massachusetts already has 

 such a law, and only the other day the governor of New 

 Hampshire vetoed the bill giving $100,000 for this pur- 

 pose in that state. Pennsylvania and other states are 

 nowpreparingfor the work. The department of agricul- 

 ture at Washington is doing everything to encourage 

 the work, and is engaged in the manufacture of tuber- 

 culin. Outside our own country, Denmark, Germany, 

 Switzerland, Prance, Belgium and Great Britain are en- 

 gaged in the work of eradication of tuberculosis. Even 

 Australia is making investigation. The r larion of the 

 milk supply to infant mortalit}^ has been insisted upon 

 by every health oflBcer who has made it the subject of 

 systematic investigation. It has been proven again and 

 again that infected milk and its products will produce 

 tuberculosis. On an average 10 per cent of the world's 

 milk supply is tuberculous. Prof. Roth, of Zurich, 

 went into the markets of Switzerland and purchased 

 butter from twenty different sources representing differ- 

 ent cantons of Switzerland. He then inoculated guinea 

 pigs with the butter, and two out of the twenty produced 

 tuberculosis, and the same experiment was tried in Turin, 

 Italy, with exactly the same result. Perhaps the first 

 and most important step is the destruction or proper 

 disposal of all tuberculous animals, and as cattle are the 

 most susceptible, and most other animals derive their 

 infection from this source, the careful examination 

 and destruction of every diseased bovine should be in- 

 sisted upon. I say that cows are the most susceptible 



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