VETERINARY MEDICINE. 281 



is said lo be tlie worst of the many iioiil'alal diseases lliat occur in T'^.-mda, and 

 becoinini,' more and more connnon every year. 



The relation of bovine to human tuberculosis, W. I^. Moss (Bitl. ./nlmx 

 Hopkins i/o.s/)., 20 (inO!)). Xo. 21.',, pp. 39-//.';).— This is an exhaustive review 

 of the subject, both from the clinical and the autopsy point of view. The fol- 

 lowing conclusions are drawn : 



" The clinical cases collected ... in which the circumstantial evidence points 

 more or less strongly to human beings having been infected with tuberculosis 

 from bovine sources, can not be presented as furnishing absolute proof of the 

 question, but they point so strongly to tuberculous cattle as a source of danger 

 to man that with such eAidence alone before us it would seem advisable to take 

 strict precautious against bovine tuberculosis. 



" The economic losses among the cattle themselves, aside from any possible 

 danger to man, are sufficiently great to demand a vigorous effort to staniji out 

 bovine tuberculosis. 



"The evidence furnished by autopsy statistics of primary intestinal tuber- 

 culosis, reported by different observers, is very conflicting, and even if there 

 was agreement on a high incidence, this evidence could only be taken as circum- 

 stantial, since there is abundant opjiortunity for primary intestinal infection to 

 occur with tuberculous material of human origin. 



"The use of tuberculins from human and from bovine bacilli has not yet 

 thrown much light on the question. The agglutination reaction does not serve 

 to differentiate the two types of bacilli. 



" It seems definitely established that there are two distinct types of tubercle 

 bacilli, the human and the bovine type, which in a majority of cases investi- 

 gated have characteristics sufficiently fixed so that mutation from one type into 

 the other does not occur. 



" The bovine type of bacillus has been demonstrated in 20 per cent of a series 

 of 306 cases among human beings. 



" The bacillus which causes bovine tuberculosis may also cause tuberculosis 

 in man. It must be borne in mind that every case of tuberculosis in man show- 

 ing the bovine bacillus need not have received the infection directly from cattle, 

 for it is easily conceivable that a human having become infected from cattle 

 may pass the infection on to other human beings. 



" The dangers from bovine tuberculosis to man are sufficiently great to war- 

 rant strict precautions against it." 



A bibliographical list of 40 references is appended. 



Intertransmissibility of bovine and human tubercle bacilli, F. M. Potten- 

 CER (Jour. Ainer. Med. Assoc, 52 {1909), No. 13, pp. i007-i0ii).—" Interpret- 

 ing laboratory findings, animal experiments, clinical observations and the diag- 

 nostic and therapeutic use of tuberculins made from bacilli of both human and 

 bovine varieties, as well as reasoning from the analogy between smallpox and 

 cowpox, I feel that we have some light thrown on the question of intertransmis- 

 sibility of tubercle bacilli of human and bovine origin that can not l)e derived 

 from the laboratory and animal experiments alone. 



" The following points in the discussion of this question seem to be pretty 

 thoroughly established : 



"Human and bovine tubercle bacilli are different, as shown in: (a) Mox-pho- 

 logic characteristics, (h) cultural characteristics, (c) virulence for animals, 

 {(I) staining characteristics (not generally confirmed). 



" Cattle can be iunnunized against bovine bacilli by inoculation with moderate 

 numbers of human bacilli. 



