1840 liEj'oKT OF Farmers' Institutes 



October 1, 1912, proves that " in Edinburgh at least, a large pro- 

 portion of bone and joint tuberculosis in children is due to 

 infection by the bovine bacillus, and that this bacillus enters the 

 body by practically only one route — that is, by the stomach — 

 and in one medium, namely, cow's milk. In the comparatively 

 limited number of cases in which the human bacillus was found 

 to be the cause of the trouble there was also found a definite 

 history of pulmonary tuberculosis affecting some one else who 

 lived in the house, and all the evidence went to prove that the 

 infection had been a direct one from the patient to the child. 

 This research as well as a number of others which have preceded 

 it emphasizes the importance of careful supervision of milk which 

 is ingested by adults and children. Indeed, it would seem evident 

 that if milk from tuberculous cattle can be excluded from the 

 diet of children the number of eases of bone and joint tubercu- 

 losis in this class of patients can be very greatly diminished, and 

 if care is used as to direct infection from tuberculous adults 

 these distressing maladies of childhood which destroy usefulness 

 or life can be almost entirely set aside." 



Dr. Wm. 11. Park of Xew York City says that ten per cent, of 

 the samples of milk taken from cans in that city in 1010 con- 

 tained tubercle bacilli and that from ten to twenty per cent, of 

 all the cattle supplying the city were at that time infected with 

 the disease. He gave the following report on a series of autopsies 

 in an address before tlio Academy of ]\Iedicine May 12, 1910': 



" Up to the present we have completed studies on 434 cases. 

 Of these 297 were achilts, and of these but one case, which had 

 a tuberculous deposit in one kidney, as the only lesion, was due 

 to a culture of the l)ovine type. The 278 cases of pulmonary 

 tuberculosis were due in every instance to the human type. 

 Twenty-two of the 84 very young children and infants tested were 

 infected with the bovine type, or about twenty-four per cent. Of 

 40 fatal cases there were four that died because of bovine infec- 

 tion. Of tlio 434 cases, 206 were over sixteen years of age; of 

 these, but one was due to bovine infections. There were 54 cases 

 five to sixteen vears of ace. Nine of these were due to l)ovine in- 

 fections. Tliere were 84 cases under five years; 22 of these were 

 due to bovine infection. 



" Our total results indicate that about three per cent, of all tu- 



