APPENDIX. 159 



injection of a twentieth of a gram of tuberculin underneath the 

 skin of a cow there will be a marked rise of temperature within 

 from nine to fifteen hours, provided she has tuberculosis, and not 

 otherwise. Tuberculin, the diagnostic agent, is a chemical su]> 

 stance, that in the dose given has not the slightest injurious effect 

 upon well animals. There are certain precautions to be taken to 

 avoid mistakes, and some degree of skill and familiarity with the 

 diseased conditions of cattle is necessary on the part of one mak- 

 ing the test, but with suitable instruments and professional skill it 

 is comparatively easy for one man to examine a herd of fifty ani- 

 mals in less than twent^^-four hours and detect every case of tuber- 

 culosis that may exist there. Thus we see that the problem of 

 suppressing bovine tuberculosis, we will not say the complete 

 extermination, for this will be impossible while other tuberculous 

 subjects are allowed to freely distribute the seeds of disease, 

 resolves itself into the simple testing of all bovines with tuberculin ; 

 and as soon as the public mind is awakened to the true importance 

 of the work this will be done, and the tests will be repeated suffi- 

 ciently often to keep the disease in check. Public sentiment that 

 will demand the suppression of what has long been regarded as an 

 inevitable evil may be slowly developed, but its development is sure 

 when the work to be accomplished is so simple and important as 

 the suppression of tuberculosis. 



But if radical and generally applicable measures are not at once 

 in operation to do away with this disease, there is no reason why 

 individuals should not protect their own herds and the lives of 

 their families and patrons by making sure that they are not har- 

 boring it. A man who will buy and keep a family cow to supply 

 milk and butter for his children and not adopt the simple and 

 inexpensive measures necessary to be sure she is not affected 

 with tuberculosis is either ignorant of the danger incurred or 

 guilty of negligence little short of criminal. The dairy man 

 who is supplying the public, including invalids and children, 

 who are particularly susceptible to consumption, with milk or 

 butter, who will not go to the slight expense necessary to 

 test his herd for tuberculosis, has neither a proper regard for 

 his own or patrons' interest; and, particularly, the breeder of 

 choice dairy stock that will continue to breed and distribute 

 among other herds cattle that ma}^ and, as experience has 

 shown, are particularly liable to carry with them the seeds of 



