The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1904-11-01

lowing article appearing in your publ
cation of October 18th, 1904.
Seventeen cows belonging to the herd
of R. Sartori, Seattle, were slaughtered
the other day after having been pro
nounced by DIR. s. B. Nelson, the state
veterinarian to be afflicted with tuberculo-
sis. When the animals were killed, three
government inspectors were present, who
made a careful examination of the car
cases of the animals. They passed the
meat of ten of the animals as fit for sale
on the markets, and in two others no
trace whatever of the disease could be
found. Thus once again is proven the un-
certainty of the tuberculin test. This test
was first applied by Dr. Kidd and veri-
fed by DR.. Nelson himself. The milk of
Mr.. Sartoris herd, which is one of the fin
est in western Washington and principally
of the Jersey breed, is sold in Seattle, and
therefore the announcement of the veterin-
arian's findings caused great scare, as if
nearly one-half a single herd was found
afflicted with the disease, it seemed plausi-
BILE that it must be very prevalent among
all the dairy herds of the vicinity, and
a menace to the population of the city"
In Justice to the stock interests
which 1 am endeavoring to serve and
in which service 1 am intensely inter
ested in lessening and completely
eradicating tuberculosis from the
herds of this state, l cannot allow
certain statements in the above arti-
Gle to go unchallenged, as they do not
state the facts as they are.
You state, %, "That in two of the
cattle, absolutely no trace of the dis
ease could be found" (2), '"That the
tuberculin test has again proven I'M
certain" 60, "That because of our
statements, referring to DR.. Kydd and
myself that we have created a great
scare, as if nearly one-half a single
herd was found afflicted with the dis
ease, it therefore seemed plausible that
it must be prevalent among all the
dairy herds in the vicinity
%, Allow me to state that this
matter was brought to the attention
of my office through the Health De-
partment at Seattle, who through their
bacteriologist had found bacilli of
tuberculosis in the milk at Seattle
and had traced it to the herd of Mr..
Sartori. Arrangements were made for
testing the herd by DR.. Kydd. DR..
Kydd did so in the presence of and
with the personal assistance of Mr..
Sartori Seventeen out of siXty-two
head of COWS comprising the herd,
gave reaction to the tuberculin test.
AS you will see by this test and post
norton inspection, one, number 43,
a VI lnulC COW, was LuS OhIy OuC III
which the disease was not found 1t
is quite generally recognized, however,
that sometimes when LESSONS of tuber-
culosis are not we'll developed and af-
feet only slightly a small Emphatic
gland, or they are situated in the bone,
that such LESSONS may escape even
very careful inspection of the carcass.
The very fact that ten of these COWS,
even when so slightly affected with
tuberculosis as to allow the carcasses
to be passed for sale after tubercu-
losis had been proven by postmortem
examination by three government in
spectors, and yet this condition was
diagnosed by means of the tubercu-
lin test, proves that the tuberculin
test is a very certain one, as in this
case it would be practically impossi-
BILE for any man no matter how ex-
pert he may be, to diagnose the dis
ease present in these animals And
it is just in such animals as these
that the tuberculin test is of the
greatest value because it picks out
those COWS which are only slightly af-
fected and possibly at this time not
dangerous, but the disease insiduously
and continuously makes inroads until