356 MISSOURI AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



"birth." (Laws.) In one herd which, on inspection, I found to be about 

 one-half healthy and one-half diseased, I had occasion to go back a few 

 months later and test the 13 calves from the diseased cows, all of which 

 proved to be free from tuberculosis. In one herd a certain cow was in 

 the last stages of tuberculosis and reacted to the tuberculin test, which 

 I shall describe later, and was killed ; on post-mortem examination showed 

 extensive lesions of tuberculosis of the lungs, heart, costal pleura, dia- 

 phragm and throat. This cow was the dam of two heifers, one 6 and 

 the other 18 months old, which, when carefully examined and tested, 

 •were found to be free from tuberculosis. I have had this experience 

 •over and over, and I positively conclude from my own experience, as 

 well as the statement of all authorities on the subject of tuberculosis, 

 that the disease is not hereditary. 



.As to the prevalent opinion that tuberculosis is strictly a disease of 

 the lungs, I need only to say that in the post-mortems which I have 

 helped to make, I have found the disease in different cases in the glands 

 of the throat, glands between the lungs, the lungs, costal pleura, liver, 

 intestines and hock joints, without any other organ being diseased. The 

 intestines and pulmonary form of tuberculosis are probably the most 

 •common in cattle, but the disease may be found in any part of the body 

 ■whatsoever. 



DIAGNOSIS IS PUZZLING. 



The symptoms caused by tuberculosis, as can well be inferred from 

 the foregoing statement, are so different in different cases as to make 

 -the diagnosis of the diseases a veritable puzzle: If none of the vital or- 

 gans are affected there may be no symptoms whatever, and the animal 

 may be fat and healthy-looking and still be capable of spreading tuber- 

 culosis. In such cases there is no method aside from the tuberculin test 

 by which the presence of the disease may be known. When the glands 

 of the throat are affected with tuberculosis the symptoms resemble those 

 produced by lumpjaw ; when the lungs are affected the cough, and 

 emaciation when it comes, resembles the cough caused by the infesta- 

 tion of the lungs with lung worms or some form of pneumonia ; when 

 the intestines are affected the symptoms are those of some forms of 

 indigestion ; and when the joints of the limbs are aft'ected the lameness 

 resembles that produced by rheumatism or injury, so that we see that 

 -even in cases where the tuberculosis is so far advanced as to produce 

 visible symptoms it is still impossible to decide whether those symp- 

 toms are caused by tuberculosis or by some other disease. It is neces- 

 sary for us to understand all of these things thoroughly in order to go 

 about the control of the disease in an intelligent manner. 



