536 
J. F. WINCHESTER. 
According to the .Registration Report for that year, there 
were 39,040 deaths in this State, and of that number 7,329 died 
from tuberculosis, or 18.37 per cent. 
From the twelve prominent causes of death, numbering 23,- 
872, tuberculosis claims 30.7 per cent. 
There were 11,772 deaths under five years of age that year, 
and of that number 1,372 were from tuberculosis, or 11.68 per 
cent. Excluding all deaths under five years old, than tuberculo 
sis claims 21.88 per cent. 
That this disease exists among the dairy stock of this State, a 
few facts gleaned from Drs. Penniman of Worcester, Osgood of 
Springfield, Bunker of Newton, Peters and Saunders of Boston, 
besides a few of the individuals who have suffered a loss of cattle, 
establishes the fact. 
An examination of forty-nine herds, in different parts of this 
State, or 1,110 animals, shows that on thirty-four farms, where 
866 bovines were kept, 239 were killed, and the examination after 
death sustained the diagnosis of tuberculosis. Besides these 239 
that were killed, 189 presented symptoms that would cause them 
to be looked upon as suspicious. On the fifteen other farms, 
where 244 bovines were kept, twenty-eight presented symptoms 
that indicated tuberculosis, but none were killed to sustain the 
diagnosis; and besides these there were nineteen suspicious cases. 
Having obtained the consent of a few gentlemen that have 
suffered a loss of cattle from this cause, I present the history of 
those outbreaks, and the rest I specify by numbers. 
In the spring of 1887, at the request of Mr. Jacob C. Rogers, 
Dr. Austin Peters and myself made an examination of the milch 
cows at his farm in Peabody. There were a number of animals 
that presented the symptoms of tuberculosis. An inquiry into 
the history of the cattle kept on this farm revealed the facts: 
that some years previous to this the herd of Jerseys and grades 
owned there had had the disease, but to what extent not known ; 
these were disposed of about the year 1878, with the exception 
of one cow, which afterwards died of milk fever. For two or 
three years the number of cattle on the farm was limited. When 
the farm was stocked again it was with Guernseys, and no evi- 
