1 Dec., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 475, 
THE TUBERCULIN TEST—A PLEA FOR NON-SLAUGHTER. 
Ox of the most controversial subjects in relation to the cattle industry is the 
utilisation of the tuberculin test. Its application~will in many respects 
seriously affect the interest of our cattle breeders and exporters. These being 
admitted facts, any fresh light that can be given upon this question, especially 
if it proceeds from reliable sources, will not only be welcome but. greatly 
appreciated. Until last year, the regulations in respect to the exportation of 
cattle to Canada required that, before admission to enter that country could 
be obtained, it was necessary that the animal should be able to pass satis- 
factorily, atter its arrival at the quarantine station, the tuberculin test. The 
modus operandi in actual practice proved so detrimental to the industry it was 
designed to protect that a modified form of regulations was issued by the 
Canadian Government, whereby it was agreed that animals successfully tested 
here should be admitted without further test on arrival. The Argentine 
Government have recently adopted the same sort of regulations, as we under- 
stand them, as were originally in operation in respect to Canada, but found 
unworkable by that Government, so that no excuse is needed to bring before 
our readers the fullest possible information bearing upon this subject. 
The United States was, perhaps, the one country of all others where the 
extremists in respect to the tuberculin test carried their powers to the greatest 
extent. It was in this country that indiscriminate slaughter took place without 
either rhyme or reason, and it is therefore with satisfaction that one is able to 
gather from recent communications from that country that saner methods are 
likely to prevail in future. 
DETAILS OF AN EXPERIMENT. 
The New Hampshire Cattle Commissioners have conducted a most careful 
test with ten animals, and the conclusions arrived at are most significant, as 
well as of great value—not that they prove the unreliability of the test, but 
because they prove that the evil arising from the existence of the disease in the 
bovine race is greatly exaggerated. — 
The following is a brief record of this test:— 
The ten cows were all tested in June, 1897, and all reacted. 
On 12th September, 1897, only five of them reacted, one of which was 
killed, and the condition of the disease is reported to have been as follows :— 
“So infinitesimal as to require no consideration upon any health basis, and was 
strong proof of the extravagance in destroying animals by the test alone.” 
Again, on 1st December, only three reacted, one of which had shown 
manifest physical signs of the disease; and the same result was obtained in 
February last. The two which showed no sign of the trouble, but which had 
reacted, were killed and examined, and the commissioners found—so says the 
report——“ Slight evidence of disease, but in such condition as to lead to the 
conclusion that it had not only been arrested but was on the way to ultimate 
recovery.” How much this result was due to the treatment of the animals, 
and how much to the alleged curative qualities of the tuberculin, is a matter 
of conjecture only. There are no developments of science in regard to the 
nature and characteristics of bovine tuberculosis that warrant the destruction of 
such animals. 
The five cows which reacted at the first trial were discharged from the 
quarantine as “healthy and vigorous,” and then the authority from which we 
quote (the Breeders’ Gazette) adds the following significant words :— 
“ Like sensible men, who were hunting for the truth, and not searching 
for facts to sustain fine-spun theories, the commissioners land a few body 
blows in the ‘kill-everything’ crowd as follows :— 
“The policy outlined at the outset, and resolutely followed, has been 
sustained by the result of this experiment, and is being adopted in the States 
around us, where a more radical policy has prevailed. In Massachusetts, 
Hl 
