THE HEALTH OF THE HEED 103 



attract any very special attention, and it surely 

 would not be possible to enlist both state and fed- 

 eral aid in a far-reaching campaign for its eradica- 

 tion, in which not only is there supervision of 

 means of stamping it out, but also provisions 

 whereby to a great extent the public assumes the 

 financial burden involved in the destruction of the 

 infected animals. Whether or not bovine tubercu- 

 losis is transmissible to man is one of the perennial 

 battlegrounds of the biologists, but the idea is at 

 least very widely credited and explainsi in large 

 part the peculiar interest which city boards of 

 health have displayed concerning this disease. 



Once well established in a herd, tuberculosis is 

 very serious from the economic side, apart from 

 any questions of public hygiene. If the infection 

 becomes general, there will be the unsatisfactory 

 evidence of unthrifty calves and young stock and 

 from time to time an occasional cow will go down 

 with generalized "T.B." In any case, the public 

 and the more progressive breeders are so aroused 

 over the question that we are rapidly approaching 

 the time when all purchases of cattle will be condi- 

 tioned on passirg a tuberculin test. Solely from 

 the standpoint of satisfaction and dairy produc- 

 tion, no man can afford to keep an infected herd 

 and if we grant its transmission to man the case 

 for its eradication becomes infinitely stronger. 



Another trouble that is always with us and the 

 loss from which runs into incalculable sums, sur- 



