128 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



That as regards man a result analogous to that seen in the strep- 

 tococcus, or the bacillus of -rouget du proc,'" has not taken place by 

 the resideute ol' the tuberch? bacillus iu the tissues of cattle is proven 

 by the cases of accidental inoculation of man with the bovine bacillus 

 as well as by the cases observed clinically iu which tuberculosis has 

 followed the consumption of tuberculous milk. The tubercle bacillus 

 is unique in the exte4it of its pathogenic activity, both by direct ex- 

 perimental inoculation as well as by infection under what may be 

 considered more or less natural conditions. The list of animals in 

 which tuberculosis occurs in parks and zoological gardens is appall- 

 ing, the discoveries of Dubard and others showing that not even the 

 cold-blooded animals are exempt from this universal scourge. While 

 it may be said of the tubercle bacillus that iu cultures in the labora- 

 tory it is unusually tenacious of its characteristics, it is certain that 

 in nature it has a wide range of adaptability as a pathogenic agent. 

 Hence, for the tubercle bacillus, perhaps, more than for any other 

 known microbe, we are justified in believing that an exaltation of 

 virulence for practically all experimental animals will hold good in 

 the case of man also. 



Accidental Inoculation of Man ivith the Bovine Tubercle Bacillus. — 

 While we cannot determine the virulence of the bovine tubercle ba- 

 cillus for man by direct inoculation, we are, nevertheless, not without 

 some information on this point, owing to the accidental inoculations 

 observed from time to time. Four such cases have been reported to 

 this Society, accompanied iu three instances by the exhibition of the 

 specimens. 



Similar cases have been reported by Tscherning and Pfeilier, 

 the latter ending in general infection and death. 



Dr. M. B. Hartzell has also observed two cases in which the 

 bovine origin of the infection was not absolutely proven, though 

 certainly highly probable, both occurring in healthy men who were 

 eraployedby one of our large railways to clean and repair cattle cars. 

 In both a well-marked tuberculosis of the skin of the verrucous type 

 followed slight wounds of the back of the hand inflicted by broken 

 timbers. One man recovered under local treatment, but the other 

 died after about a year through involvement of the lungs and other 

 organs. This patient was a robust man, aged forty-four years, 

 weighing 175 pounds, with good personal and family histories. Dr. 

 Hartzell felt that he was able to exclude with reasonable certainty 

 any other source of infection. The death of Mr. Thomas Wally, Prin- 

 cipal of the Koyal Veterinary College, of Edinburg, is also attributed 

 to infection gaining entrance through a woimd received while mak- 

 ing an autopsy on a tuberculous cow. 



