THE BEHAVIOR OF NATIVE JAPANESE CATTLE IN 

 REGARD TO TUBERCULOSIS (PERLSUCHT) 



BY SHIBASABURO KITASATO 



[Shibasaburo Kitasato, Director of the Government Institute for the Study of In- 

 fectious Diseases, b. December, 1857, Kumamoto, Japan. Imperial Univer- 

 sity of Tokio, 1882 (Igakushi); Special Course in Koch's Institut fur Infec- 

 tion, Skrankherten, 1885-92; Igaku-Hokushi (Japan) in 1891; Professor 

 (Germany), 1892; Decoration of the Third Order of "Rising Sun," 1894; Di- 

 rector of the Government Institute for the Study of, Infectious Diseases, 1899; 

 Adviser to the Government Sanitary Bureau, 1903. Member of the Japanese 

 Medical Society (President) ; Japanese Hygiene Society (Vice- President) ; Reale 

 Societa Italiana d'Igiene (Honorary); Sanitary Institute, London; American 

 Society of the Tropical Medical (Honorary); Medical Society of Manila; Har- 

 veian Society of London; New York Academy of Medicine (Honorary); Acad- 

 emy of Sciences, St. Louis.] 



IN Japan it is a fact of common knowledge that the native Japan- 

 ese cattle are free from tuberculosis (perlsucht) under ordinary 

 conditions, while imported and mixed types of cattle (that is, such 

 as descend from foreign cattle on the father's side, from native 

 cattle on the mother's) contract the disease. This fact would be a 

 very noteworthy one if we could suppose that our native animals 

 are naturally insusceptible to tuberculosis, and are not so simply 

 because they have not had the opportunity to become infected. 

 As far as I know, no race of cattle is known to us which can prove 

 ownership to a real natural immunity against tuberculosis. The 

 claim has been made often enough, but each time the falsity of 

 the claim could be demonstrated through inoculation experiments. 

 To determine the position of the native Japanese cattle in regard 

 to tuberculolsis the following experiments were performed. 



Before relating these experiments, however, I would like to 

 make a few general remarks concerning tuberculosis of the human 

 race in Japan. 



TABLE I. MORTALITY FROM TUBERCULOSIS IN JAPAN BETWEEN THE YEARS 



1892 AND 1901. 



