494 
TWENTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING 
actinomykosis. We probably have more animals affected with 
this disease than any other part of the country. We have had, 
for instance, in one series of cattle sheds here about one hundred 
cases of actinomykosis, and we had quite a little trouble right 
here in Chicago on that subject. 
Dr. Atkinson: It occurs to me, in considering this subject, 
there is one feature lost sight of. It has always seemed to me 
that while an animal was on its four feet it was a fit subject for 
the veterinarian, but when hanging up by the quarters for food, 
it was more properly a subject for the Board of Health to deal 
with. I have had some experience. Five years ago I was ap¬ 
pointed State Veterinarian of Wisconsin, and was somewhat en¬ 
thusiastic, as all beginners are. Among the first cases I met was 
a party that had a drove of two hundred hogs nearly ready for 
the market, in which hog cholera had made its appearance. I 
happened to be visiting in the neighborhood; he heard I was com¬ 
ing, and he attempted to ship them. I succeeded in getting him 
to take them back to his farm. The old man protested that it 
meant ruin if he had to lose those hogs. He said he knew if he 
could get them into the Chicago market he could realize on them. 
I expected I would be sustained by the State Board of Health. 
The law provided that I should co-operate with them. As soon as 
I got home I notified the Secretary of the State Board of Health, 
and some six or eight months afterwards I asked him if he got my 
letter. He said, “Yes; we took it up at our last meeting.” I 
says, “What of it?” “Well,” he says, “ there is nothing to show 
that hog cholera does people any harm, and we concluded it was 
not a matter for our Board to interfere with.” How, how far 
would I have been sustained had I'gone on and acted in that mat¬ 
ter ? I do not believe veterinarians can act alone. 
I had another experience almost similar. This subject of 
tuberculosis has attracted a great deal of attention. It was 
made the subject of discussion in a meeting of veterinarians, 
sanitarians and Board of Health officers held at Springfield, last 
fall, and the question of how far our jurisdiction would go was 
brought up by myself at that time as it is now. We called in the 
Secretary of the State Board of Health and asked him what his 
