The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-01-17
II Is Harmless to Animals and
Is a Protection to
The Public.
AN INTERESTING REPORT
MADE ~ DR.. SCHROEDER, OF
WASHINGTON, D. c., TO AGRi-
CULTURE DEPARTMENTAL
THEORY IS NOW PROVEN.

Washington, Jan. 17.-After an ex-
perience of sixteen years with tuber-
culin and testing many thousands of
both healthy and tuberculous cattle,
the department of agriculture has
reached the conclusion that the tuber-
culin test is not only the only one
which may be relied on for determin-
ing the presence of tuberculosis In a
dairy herd, but that it is absolutely
harmless to healthy animals even in
doses many times the strength neces-
sary to detect the disease in infected
subjects.
In view of the effort that is being
made by the department of agricul.
ture to clean up the dairy herds of the
District a report ON the subject by
DR.. E.. C. Schroeder of the Washing
ton experiment station, made to the
secretary of agriculture. is more than
commonly timely and interesting. DR..
Schroeder calls attention to the fact
that the germ of tuberculosis is well
known and that every case of tuber-
culosis, whether in human beings or
in cattle. has to spring from some pre-
vious case.
Must be Parent Germ.
There are certain factors of dark
ness and dampness that favor the
growth of the germ and prolong life
after it has been thrown out from an
animal body, but the germ has to be
there or there is no case Of tuberculo'
sis. He says that it is just as futile
to expect a cornstalk to spring from
barren and unseeded ground as to
look for a case of tuberculosis if there
has not been parent germ to prOpa-
gate it. For this reason when a herd
of cattle is cleared of the disease they
stay clear till there is fresh infection
imported from the outside. It is this
cleaning-up process that is in pro-
gress in the District now, and when
the barns are disinfected there can
be no more tuberculosis unless it is
imported.
The experiences of the department
with tuberculosis in cattle as detailed
by DIR. Schroeder cover a long term
of years. He says that the worst fea-
ture Of the disease is that it is almost
impossible to detect it from an out
side examination till the animal is in
the last stages, and that it may have
been spreading infection broadcast for
two years previous. His report shows
some pictures of cattle that were
proved to have the disease and that
looked decidedly better than the aver
age dairy cattle. Tuberculosis among
dairy herds is more prevalent in some
parts of the country than others. but
it may be said that the average for
the United States is 25 percent and
this is good deal lower than among
the European herds.
Justified by Results.
Besides the danger of injecting hui
man beings that is always present in
milk from tuberculosis herd the cat
tie themselves are much less produc-
tive One farmer who had his herd
cleaned up by the department found
that he had % percent tuberculosis,
some of the animals being those he
had reckoned as his best. He was
game and discarded them all. cleaned
up his place and filled the gaps in
his herd with tuberculin tested ami
mails. At the end of five years he
reported to the department that he
had never before done SO we'll at such