106 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



of Dr. Ix'ouard I'l'arsou, State Veterinarian of I'ennsylvauia, and 

 Dr. S. 11. (iilliland, lirst assistant. The work I am about to report 

 from our laboratory is tihe result of our joint etlorts, and 1 take 

 pleasure iu acknowledging my personal indebtedness to these co- 

 workers. 



The past decade has seen the awakening of a wide-spread interest 

 in the study of tuberculosis, the spirit of Oriental fatalism which 

 has for so long led us to view with equanimity the awful loss of life 

 annually indicted by this great white plague having given away to 

 an active campaign against its ravages, a campaign so far largely 

 one of education, in which we strive to spread far and wide the 

 fundamental facts that tuberculosis as a communicable disease, and 

 from that fact, preventable. If preventable, wlhy not prevented? 

 With these precepts firmly implanted in the minds of the medical 

 profession, as well as of the general public, we have reason to hope 

 that each year will see a more careful study of the methods by wJiich 

 tuberculosis is si^read and the means to be adopted for its preven- 

 tion. On every hand societies for the prevention of tuberculosis are 

 being formed whose object is to teach the truth concerning the dis- 

 ease and to dispel those false notions, chief among which may be 

 mentioned belief in the hereditary character of tuberculosis, which 

 in the past have led us to regard the tribute of human life as inevita- 

 ble. 



The intelligent prophylaxis against any disease demands a 

 thorough understanding of tlhe methods by which it is spread. The 

 vvhole world is in accord in assigning the chief role in the propaga- 

 tion of tuberculosis to the inhalation of particles of sputum thrown 

 oil' by phthisical persons, the majority of the profession agreeing 

 with Cornet in the belief that sputum is most dangerous when dried 

 and pulverized, while others follow Fliigge in regarding tihe moist 

 floating particles thrown out during coughing, sneezing, etc., as most 

 to be feared. The danger to mankind from tuberculosis of cattle 

 has been discussed at a length and with a fervor not surpassed in the 

 history of modern medicine. The immense practical importance of 

 the subject to the medical profession, to those charged with making 

 and enforcing laws for the preservation of the healtlh of the commu- 

 nity, no less than to every man, woman and child, justifies our deep- 

 est interest, and most earnest studies. 



The relation that exists between human and bovine tuberculosis 

 and the part pla^^ed by cattle in spreading the disease among man- 

 kind is now the great question, to which attention has been drawn 

 with renewed activity by the attitude of Professor Koch, announced 

 in his paper before the Britislh Congress on Tuberculosis in July, 

 1901. This paper was the more striking in that it contained state- 

 ments diametrically opposed to the former teaching of Koch that 



