SCIENTIFIC WORK OF HARRY LUMAN RUSSELL 13 
ciate their bearing. Those without such a background must 
accept them on faith. The natural and proper conservatism 
of the farmer leads him to accept new facts only after their 
value has been demonstrated. Yet delay in their acceptance 
may often mean great loss and irreparable damage. This 
fact is well illustrated by bovine tuberculosis. 
The lack of recognition of the importance of bovine tuber- 
culosis by the farmer has enabled the disease to gain greater 
and greater headway. In 1894 great areas of our country 
were free from the disease which now exists in every locality 
and is still spreailing, due to the fact that the importance 
of the truths pointed out twenty-five years ago is not yet 
realized by the great mass of farmers. 
If the breeders and the farmers of the state and of the 
country had accepted and followed the advice given in the 
first papers published on bovine tubereulcsis by the Wisconsin 
College of Agriculture, the conditions today would be far 
different. It was recognized that the pure bred herds were 
the chief centers frcm which the disease was being dissem- 
inated. It was recognized that a healthy herd would be a 
great asset to its owner. But few of the breeders of the state 
saw fit to follow the advice. Those who did have never re- 
gretted it. 
The knowledge that was obtained concerning the conditions 
that existed in the state with reference to bovine tuberculosis 
made possible the formulation of a campaign against it. 
Briefly, this consisted of an educational propaganda which 
should bring to the farmer evidence of the economic im- 
portance of the disease, which should acquaint him with the 
tuberculin test and its value in keeping tuberculosis out of 
his herd or in eliminating it therefrom. 
It was recognized that by far the greater part of the dairy 
herds of the state were free from the disease, especially in 
the more newly settled regions of the state, that the important 
and immediate thing was not the elimination of the disease 
from the infected herds, but the prevention of its introduction 
into healthy herds. In furtherance of the plan of action, 
animals that had reacted to the tuberculin test were slaugh- 
