284 
THE SCOURGE OF TUBERCULOSIS. 
ture during the last few years little more than educational work 
can be carried on. The appropriations have not in any year ex¬ 
ceeded $25,000 and have been as low as $10,000. The last 
legislature failed to make an appropriation. The tuberculosis 
committee of the state board of health has full authority under 
the law to test cattle with tuberculin if in its opinion the 
animals have tuberculosis. Many local boards of health require 
the owners of herds supplying milk to their municipalities 
to have clean bills of health for each anifnal. Interest in bo¬ 
vine tuberculosis has largely increased throughout this state 
during the last year. 
Buffalo, N. Y.—Health Commissioner Ernest Wende has 
succeeded by methods of his own in protecting Buffalo from 
the milk of tuberculosis cattle kept outside the corporation 
limits. In January, 1895, he framed a set of milk ordinances, 
which give him all the power he needs within the city. Every 
person who sells milk is required to post conspicuously a card 
showing by whom the milk is supplied. Thus a complete list 
of the farmers is obtained. All dairymen are then notified to 
have their herds examined by a trained veterinary surgeon and 
to file a certificate of the examiner in the office of the board of 
health. The herds of dairymen who do not comply with this re¬ 
quest are marked “suspicious.” When information is refused 
by any dairyman his product is held to be suspicious, and is in¬ 
terdicted at the city line. This scheme has worked to the com¬ 
missioner’s entire satisfaction. 
Boston, Mass. —Massachusetts, through its state board of 
cattle commissioners, has battled earnestly against tuberculosis 
for several years. The board for the last four or five years has 
devoted its attention particularly to tuberculosis, with satisfac¬ 
tory results. Each city and town in the state appoints one or 
more inspectors to watch for infected cattle. The suspected 
cattle are isolated and tested by tuberculin. If the tuberculin 
reacts, the animal is killed and its carcass burned. The own¬ 
ers of condemned cattle are remunerated by a sum not exceed¬ 
ing $40 from the appropriation made by the legislature. All 
cattle which are brought into the state from other states are 
quarantined. In 1896, when the agitation regarding tuberculosis 
was at its height, the legislature appropriated $300,000. In 
that year the commissioners killed 5198 tuberculous cattle and 
paid the owners $173,206. In 1897, $250,000 was appropriated, 
9991 cattled were tested, 5275 condemned and killed and 
$179,867 paid for them. In 1898 the legislature cut the ap- 
