TUBERCULOSIS. 
539 
forty to sixty head of all ages, but owing to a change of ownership in May 1887 
the number had been reduced. I was born and brought up on this place, as well 
as were my father and grandfather, and I never knew of or heard of the existence 
of a case of tuberculosis in the town until the arrival of one from Palmer in No. 
ember, 1887, and can therefore safely say that none ever existed here before. 
Yours truly, 
, Henky J. Washburn. 
During the year 1885 Mr. C. S. Emerton of Peabody re- 
stocked his farm, having during the previous year sold all the cat¬ 
tle then on the farm. He would occasionally have a cow run 
down, and dispose of her, but gave little or no heed to the trouble. 
nring the fall of 1887 several failed in their milking qualities, 
and did not clean after calving. This led to an examination of 
the cows, and tuberculosis was found to exist. Those that pro- 
sented the symptoms of this disease had been in the herd from a 
few months to as many years. Not responding to the grain 
given them, and gradually losing flesh, nineteen mature cows and 
all the calves raised on the farm were killed, and an examination 
after death showed the changes due to tuberculosis. In the 
spring of 1887 a bull was bought in Vermont, and in the fall he 
was killed, having well-marked symptoms of the disease. These 
animals were grade Holsteins and natives. The result of tin's 
outbreak was that all the bovines on the farm were either killed 
or disposed of otherwise, and his loss has been his entire herd, or 
forty head, during the past few years. 
In the spring of 1887 Dr. J. Penniman, V.S., of Worcester, 
was called to a farm, and while there noticed a cow that was 
coughing, thin in flesh and apparently diseased with tuberculosis. 
On making inquiry about her, he learned that she had been cough¬ 
ing quite a long time and had not done well. This led him ’"’to 
note the condition of the others, and in a short time he heard 
nearly all the rest of the herd cough. Within a few days he was 
called to make a post-mortem examination of an animal, and on 
arrival found the cow dead about which he had made inquiry, and 
the examination revealed general tuberculosis with phthisis. In 
a few weeks from this time the owner desired him to make a criti¬ 
cal examination of all the cows on the farm, numbering seven¬ 
teen head of grade Jersey, Ayrshire, Shorthorns and Devons. 
