THE CONQUEST OF DISEASE 



Animals 



transmit 



diseases. 



upon; that is, that, the farther these studies 

 upon the lower animals are carried, the more 

 closely are their diseases found to be allied to 

 those of man. We have seen that tuberculosis 

 and a number of other maladies are inter- 

 changeable between men and animals, and that 

 this is particularly the case with animals under 

 domestication. Some of the recent literature of 

 this subject deals with domestic animals as car- 

 riers of human diseases. The Academic de 

 Medecine, Paris, passed a resolution in 1908 

 urging instruction of the public in the dangers 

 of infections from dogs and cats. 1 Since the 

 discovery of the cause of diphtheria it has been 

 found that cats are carriers of this disease, and 

 outbreaks of diphtheria have been traced to the 

 family cat. This animal is also a purveyor of 

 whooping-cough and broncho-pneumonia. The 

 dog is the most common carrier of the intestinal 

 parasites. The echinococcus disease, giving 

 rise to cysts and abscesses of the liver, is con- 

 tracted from the dog and is particularly com- 

 mon in Iceland where the dog is an intimate 

 member of the family, and in this country 

 among the people who live in close social rela- 

 tion with the dog. Tape worms and other 



^Bulletin de I' Academic de Medecine, Paris, 82, No. 40, 1908. 



