TUBERCULOSIS AND THE STATION HERD. 1 39 



it is found in the barns the cattle have occupied, and it may lie 

 there for months after the cattle have been removed. That this 

 is no imaginary condition has been demonstrated many times by 

 finding this germ in the dust of buildings where tuberculous ani- 

 mals have been kept and testing its life on small animals to which 

 it has conveyed the disease. 



We consider it quite as important to kill, these disease germs 

 as to kill the cattle that produce them. To kill the tubercle 

 bacilli left in the barn by the diseased cattle has been our object 

 in disinfecting the barns, and of course it has been necessary to 

 disinfect as often as the barns have become infected by diseased 

 cattle and no oftener. We shall not have occasion to disinfect 

 them again unless we have another case of tuberculosis that 

 makes sufficient progress before we discover it so that the germs 

 of the disease are given off and reinfect the barns. The prin- 

 ciple involved in the disinfection is to bring in contact with 

 the disease germs some substance that will kill them. We have 

 used for this purpose corrosive sublimate. In detail, the method 

 employed is as follows : 



All the hay, grain and farming tools have been removed from 

 the barns, the only exception being the hoes, shovels and forks 

 that have to be used there. Every movable thing that has been 

 in the barn with the diseased cattle, or after the diseased cattle 

 were removed, before the barn was disinfected, was taken out, 

 or, if left in the barn, was disinfected the same as the barn itself. 

 Then with brooms all dust and dirt that could be moved, was 

 swept into the basement or out of doors into the sunlight. Then 

 with a hand pump mounted on a barrel, such a pump as is com- 

 monly used for sprayin-^^ orchards or potato fields, the disinfect- 

 ing solution was thrown with considerable force against every 

 inch of the wood wort- - ' the barn, into every crack and crevice 

 where dust, laden with disease germs, might lodge. We com- 

 menced in the roof and Avorked downward, making thorough 

 work of it as we went along. By using the pump we did not find 

 this a very expensive operation. Including the cost of the mate- 

 rial and the labor, the expense of cleaning and disinfecting a 

 barn 100x50 feet with 18 feet posts and basement, was about 

 $25.00. This did not include the cost of the pump which was 

 but little injured, and has before and since that time been used 



