ABSTRACTS
319
could be prevented if existing knowledge of veterinary science, animal husbandry and sanitation
were properly utilised.
The Bureau of Animal Industry is divided into 12 major sections each directed by a senior
officer. The total stall consists of 4,326 employees, of whom 1,385 are veterinarians.
Experimental farms are maintained in various parts of the country in connection with disease
research and animal husbandry ; the largest of these farms is situated in Montana and comprises
50,000 acres, while the most important, on account of its varied activities, is at Beltsville,
Maryland.
The Pathological Division is the oldest established and it formed the nucleus around which the
existing organisation has been built.
The Federal Meat Inspection Service which was inaugurated in 1906 supervises the inspection
of approximately 70 per cent. of the meat and meat products of the country.
The Tick Eradication Scheme which was started in 1906 has been successful in freeing from
ticks over 600,000 square miles or 83 per cent. of the total area infected.
Another Division controls the eradication of bovine tuberculesis, a scheme which Dr. Mohler
rightly claims " is the most gigantic undertaking of its kind that has ever been attempted in any
country ". During the past 12 years the average incidence of the disease has been reduced from
4.9 per cent. to 1.7 per cent., an achievement which has fully justified the courage and foresight of
launching this great eradication campaign. Over 75 million tuberculin tests (single intradermal
method) have been carried out and nearly 2 million animals have reacted.
[The financial aspect of the scheme is of interest and illustrates effectively the increasing
consciousness of the Federal Government of the importance of tackling tuberculosis before it gets
out of control as it has been allowed to do in the old world.] The first annual allocation made by
Congress was $75,000 which amount has been gradually increased until in the present financial
year it reached the sum of $6 million to which must be added $13 million contributed by the
co-operating states.
Dr. Mohler says that it has now been decided to include avian tuberculosis in the scheme as
that disease causes heavy losses to farmers in the middle Western states. This work will have
a repercussion on the pig industry as large numbers of pigs are found to be affected with the
avian type of tubercle baclillus.
One of the most interesting branches of the Bureau is that which supervises biological products
whether prepared in America or imported from abroad. The largest items on the list are anti-hog
cholera serum and virus, and the efficiency of the control of these products is reflected in the
excellent results obtained and in the confidence shown by stock owners in the serum-virus method
of immunisation against hog cholera.
Under the able guidance of Dr. Maurice Hall, the Zoological Division has developed into one
of the most important branches of the Bureau. During recent years an increasing interest has
been [evinced in parasitology on account of the serious economic loss caused by various types of
parasitic infestation among mammals and birds. That parasites cause unthriftiness and lack of
growth and consequently render the raising of livestock unprofitable is being gradually recognised
by stock owners, and Dr. Mohler foresees the time when every state in the Union will have at least
one veterinary parasitologist on its staff.
In conclusion the author points out that new disease problems arise more rapidly than old ones
are solved and that, in consequence, the veterinary personnel of the Bureau must be enlarged to
meet the increasing demands of agriculture for the assistance of Veterinery science. [T. M. DOYLE.]