STATE CONTROL OF TUBERCULOSIS. 
467 
that special measures directed against the infectivity might not 
have produced even better results ; but in view of the difficulties 
in the way of special prophylaxis, it is to be contended that 
more is to be expected from hygiene.” (Report Glasgow Board 
of Health.) 
The special interest attaching to the reduced mortality from 
this disease in both Massachusetts and Glasgow seems to me to 
be due to the fact that these improved conditions have been at¬ 
tained entirely as a result of a better knowledge of the disease 
and a more strict carrying out of hygienic measures. 
Such a retrospect is encouraging when one considers that sim¬ 
ilar results would follow the introduction of like measures when 
applied to dairy cattle, but before this can be done people must 
recognize the necessity for it, and the great room for improve¬ 
ment there really is. 
Before considering in greater detail the control work that 
has been done in Massachusetts, let us turn for a moment to 
some of the other countries and states where such work has 
been attempted. 
In European countries probably the laws in force in Den¬ 
mark are best known. There for many years past owners 
have attempted to control tuberculosis by removing diseased 
animals and having the stalls and stables disinfected, and, as 
Bang remarks, ‘‘ These efforts were not without significance. 
The conditions of health were improved, especially in places 
where the entire herd was subjected to thorough investigation 
by a competent veterinarian, and where the owner and veteri¬ 
narian worked harmoniously together. But even with these 
conditions it was hardly possible to be entirely freed from the 
disease. The hidden < latent cases always remained, and were 
continuously coming to the surface.” 
After the introduction of tuberculin. Bang conceived the 
idea of dividing the reacting animals from those that did not 
react, and when the reacting animals showed no physical evi¬ 
dence of disease they were used for breeding purposes and their 
progeny immediately separated and kept with the healthy lot. 
