1908.] Suppression of Tuberculosis. 



501 



and bacteriological examination for the discovery of tuber- 

 culosis. Cattle are examined twice a year by a veterinary 

 surgeon, and any which present symptoms of contagious tuber- 

 culosis, viz., pulmonary tuberculosis and tuberculosis of the 

 intestines, uterus and udder are slaughtered. Calves are 

 brought up separately from other cattle and fed exclusively on 

 cooked milk, but are ultimately put with the other cattle. By 

 this method, which consists in the preservation of healthy 

 cattle and the gradual elimination of those attacked in a con- 

 tagious form, Ostertag considers that the disease can be sa 

 reduced that the tuberculin test could be applied without much, 

 loss to the remainder, and the disease entirely eradicated. Im 

 the herds of the East Prussian Society, containing 28,150 head: 

 of cattle, the proportion of dangerously infectious cattle im 

 1900-1902 was 2\ per cent. ; in Saxony and Anhalt, where 

 14,050 cattle were examined, the proportion was found to be 

 3 -6 in 1903, in the following year it was reduced to 1 -6, in 1905 

 some 5,300 additional cattle were included and the proportion 

 was 2 -5, but in 1906 this proportion had again been reduced 

 by one-half. The memorandum on the German Bill mentioned 

 above assumes therefore that not more than 2 per cent, of the 

 cattle in Germany would be affected by the proposed measure,, 

 and that this proportion would be gradually reduced. 



France. — Revised regulations as to tuberculosis in France 

 were made by a Decree dated 6th October, 1904,* which 

 requires animals presenting clinical signs of tuberculosis to be 

 slaughtered by direction of the authorities. The presence of 

 the disease having been confirmed, the premises from which the 

 animal came are to be declared infected and the sale of animals 

 thereon is prohibited except for slaughter. The owner may 

 then have them tested with tuberculin. Those which react 

 can only be sold for slaughter but they may be retained for an 

 indefinite period ; those which do not react must be immediately 

 separated from the others and isolated in disinfected premises. 

 They can then be disposed of at the will of the owner. Calves 

 born of reacting cows must, if kept with the cow, be marked ; 

 but if separated at once and placed with the healthy animals, 

 can be dealt with without restriction. The declaration as to 

 the infected premises can only be removed when all the con- 



* Bulletin Mensuel, 1905, p. 1 319. 



