Bovine Tubeeculosis in Its Relation to ]Man. 131 



should be settled, and it should be demonstrated how and from 

 what source infants obtain infection. It has been convenient up 

 to this time to attribute thousands of cases to the ingestion of 

 cow's milk. The Teterinary Journal, London, England, for June, 

 1889, gives an account of a meeting of the British Medical Asso- 

 ciation at Glasgow, and Dr. Carpenter stated that eighty per 

 cent, of the cattle sent to the principal meat market in London 

 were affected. Professor McCall said that twenty-five per cent, 

 would be nearer the mark for Glasgow. In Saxony it is said to 

 be. about one per cent.; in Berlin, 3.2 per cent. New York State 

 Tuberculosis Committee's Eeport for 1895 states that about seven 

 per cent, is figured as the average for the whole State. The 

 writer examined a herd in this State in which 27 out of 30 

 animals were tuberculous, and some were in the last stages 

 of disease. Three youngsters were free from it. Another herd 

 examined in Connecticut gave about 50 per cent, of diseased 

 adults. Nearly half of the healthy ones were under two years 

 old. 



Transmission. — We have now arrived at the point upon which 

 hinge very largely the health and welfare of humanity and the 

 fate of millions of dollars' worth of cattle. Is bovine tuberculosis 

 communicable to the human subject? This is the paramount 

 question, and it must be intelligently answered. The physician, 

 the biologist, and the veterinarian are called upon to solve this 

 problem, and below are given opinions from each, as well as from 

 the State Board of Health, using these merely as examples of 

 the universal opinion on the subject. We have noticed that so 

 far as heredity, breed, sanitation, spontaneity, and predisposition 

 are concerned, there has been a vast amount of error taught. 

 We will now consider transmissibility. J. H. Girdner, A. B., 

 M. D., in an article published on the disease germs and how 

 to avoid some of them, states that " the other principal source of 

 human infection is from drinking the milk and eating the flesh 

 of tuberculous cattle. Tuberculosis in children usually mani- 

 fests itself in disease;^ of the bones and joints, white swelling, 

 and in enlargement and suppuration of the glands of the neck. 



