204 BOARD OF AGRICUT.TURE. 



universally accepted by raodern authors. The analogy seemed very 

 striking in many respects, even when first enunciated, but the dis- 

 covery that the active agent of fermentation was a minute vegetable 

 organism, which grew and multiplied at the expense of the saccharine 

 liquid, virtually paved the way for the germ theory of disease. 



That all contagious diseases, therefore, have a continuous exist- 

 ence, like the succession of organized beings, and thus arise from the 

 dissemination of these morbid germs, no competent pathologist will 

 deny. As in the vegetable world each seed produces its kind, and 

 the acorn never contains the germ of any other tree but the sturdy 

 oak, so each infectious disease has its own specific virus, which can 

 induce no other malady than the one from which it was derived. 

 Thus every disease germ must come from pre-existing ones, and 

 consequently the spontaneous origin of an}' infectious malad}' is quite 

 ja,s untenable, in the present state of science, as the equivocal gener- 

 ation of plants and animals. 



With this idea in view, the very highest achievement in medical 

 :science is the requisite knowledge to point out such causes, rather 

 than vaguely search the materia medica for a cure ; and there is no 

 theme connected with the science of dietetics more worthy of our daily 

 consideration than the sanitary condition of the meat and milk that we 

 consume. Though many inquiries have been made in this direction 

 And valuable conclusions reached, yet in this broad field for scientific 

 research, the accomplished laborers are few. But the hour has come 

 when the sanitarian and physician, in response to a public demand, 

 must join hands with the veterinary profession to explore certain 

 realms in the causation of disease, and thus more accuratel}' survey 

 those boundary lines in pathology which seem to separate the human 

 maladies from those of our food-producing animals. 



In fact, there is no subject of more importance to the public health, 

 or better calculated to enhance the cause of sanitary science, than 

 the practical study of this diseased-meat question. The doubtful con- 

 dition of some of our home supplies already indicates the solution of 

 certain vexed questions on the transmission of tuberculosis, which 

 had long been a stumbling-block to the medical practitioner until the 

 discovery of the bacillian germ in 1882 by Dr. Robert Koch of Ger- 

 many. The investigation of this subject, therefore, in all its varied 

 relations is a work of vast importance, and one which the age now 

 urgent!}' demands in behalf of human welfare. Hence it will require, 

 for the achievement of the desired results, not only the united efforts 



