186 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



only twenty cases on record where calves have been tubercular 

 at birth ; that is the same condition in the human, the child does 

 not have it when it is born — it acquires it. If a calf is free from 

 disease and the mother is not it must be separated from its 

 mother, and must either be fed upon the boiled milk of the 

 mother or the milk of non-reacting animals. This test is of 

 great value if you do not want to kill the animal. I have tried 

 it in a number of herds and it has worked successfully. Sup- 

 pose you find a large percentage of the animals affected, you 

 can then apply the Bang system if you have a place to keep 

 these calves; after you have built a healthy herd, dispose of the 

 diseased animals. I have tried that system with perfect suc- 

 cess. I have had several animals that were worth four or five 

 hundred dollars and in the course of two years we have built 

 up a healthy herd on this diseased foundation. 



Member : Does the Bang system aim to cure the cow ? 



Dr. Russell : There is no known cure for this disease. The 

 one that was accepted in the newspapers a year or two ago was 

 a failure. I know of no method of vaccination which is effica- 

 cious. 



Member: Do you consider the test absolute? Will they 

 always react in the advanced stages? 



Dr. Russell : I do not consider it absolute. I did not say 

 so, but it is far superior to any other method. There are cer- 

 tain conditions when it will not give the correct answer. Occa- 

 sionally when the animal is in the last stages, the injection of 

 a small quantity will not be sufficient to give you a response. It 

 is like the morphine eater, each time you must have a larger 

 dose, a dose which at the outset is too great. When an animal 

 is in that physical stage that it will not respond the possibilities 

 of taking the disease is very great and any person with experi- 

 ence is likely to be able to detect the disease from the physical 

 appearance. The response is due to the reaction. When the 



