646 
PROFS. STALKER AND NILES. 
have been kept, whether closely confined or in the open fields ; 
these and many other conditions will have a marked influence 
on the degree to which the herd has been invaded. We ap¬ 
pend the figures taken at random from tested herds, that will 
show the extent to which the disease prevailed in these 
instances. 
About fifty herds have been tested in the counties of 
Blackhawk, Kossuth, Story, Boone, Page, Harrison, Sac, 
Wappello and Floyd. Taking 873 animals as they occur in 
these herds that were subjected to the test, 122 reacted and 
were pronounced tuberculous. These facts give some sugges¬ 
tions as to the distribution of the disease, and the per cent, 
that may be reasonably expected to react in herds that are re¬ 
ported for examination. 
After giving the symptoms of the disease, and considering 
the relation of meat and milk supply to the public health, the 
bulletin approaches the important subject of the eradication 
and of the prevention of the disease as follows: 
\ 
HOW CAN HEALTHY HERDS BE SECURED, AND HOW CAN THEY 
BE KEPT FREE FROM DISEASE? 
This is the practical question toward which all the others 
tend. It is of little consequence to know that disease exists 
unless that knowledge can be made to aid us in averting the 
evils we have found. The means by which total extermina¬ 
tion of the disease can be accomplished do not seem to be in ; 
sight. So long as there remain cases of consumption in the 
human family, there remains the possibility of occasional re- ! 
infection of bovines. But the probabilities of infection from i 
this soui ce aie remote, and should not be taken as arguments 
against any restrictive measures that might be adopted. ! 
While absolute extermination of the disease at once may 
not be practical, we believe it to be entirely feasible to so far j 
lestrict its dangers as to render them of slight consequence. ' 
The State has already with small expense eradicated the 
disease in a considerable number of dairy herds. And, what 
is of more value to the public at large than freeing these : 
herds from disease, it has demonstrated the possibility and the 
