4 Bulletin 150. 



Islands it rises to 33 per cent of the total mortality, and in some 

 of our Indian reservations to 50 per cent. (Treon, Holden.) 



TUBERCULOSIS IN ANIMALS. 



Tuberculosis is rare in cold blooded animals, but Sibley has 

 seen it in reptiles in a state of confinement. 



In birds it is common and destructive, but not readily trans- 

 ferred from bird to mammal. The bacillus of the bird is usually 

 a modified form, which prefers a special avian habitation. 



Wild mammals in confinement suffer excessively. In men- 

 ageries apes die almost exclusively from tuberculosis, while kan- 

 garoos, deer, elk, gazelle, antelope and lions are common victims. 

 The rats, mice and other vermin about our houses and barns 

 also contract the disease and all must be recognized as possible 

 bearers. 



Cattle suffer more than any other domesticated animal, and 

 tuberculous cattle are especially to be dreaded seeing that they 

 furnish so much food for consumption by man. The Danish 

 herds which were said to be sound until after the importation of 

 Schleswig and Shorthorn cattle in 1840 and 1850 are now gen- 

 erally infected, 17 per cent of the cattle slaughtered showing 

 tuberculosis, while over 60 per cent of the dairy herds showed 

 the disease under the tuberculin test. Statistics from German 

 abattoirs give, for cows 6.9 per cent tuberculosis, for oxen 3.6 

 per cent, for bulls 2.6 per cent, and for yearlings and calves i 

 per cent. In Berlin abattoirs 15 per cent proved tuberculous. 

 By the tuberculin test of New York State herds (2,417 head) in 

 1894 16.75 P^^ cent proved tuberculous. This is undoubtedly too 

 high an estimate for the entire cattle of the State, as the herds 

 were examined because the owners suspected them and requested 

 examination by the tuberculosis commission. Yet it cannot be 

 said that this represents the extreme of infection as I have found 

 one herd of 60 and another of 200 in countr}- districts of this 

 state tuberculous without exception. These represented cases 

 in which no precaution had been taken to prevent contagion. 



Swine are also very subject to tuberculosis, especially through 

 the consumption of the uncooked ofTal of slaughter houses and of 

 the milk of tuberculous cattle. 



