78 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Amon,? the accessory causes which promote the clevelopraeut of 

 tuberculosis primarily caused by the bacillus are hereditary predisposi- 

 tion, lack of ventilation, dark stables, iusufficientor unwholesome food, 

 overtaxing the system, breeding too young, inbreeding, general ill 

 health, and chemical poisons in the tuberculous body. Experiments 

 recorded by Johne showed that 13 per cent of the animals to which tuber- 

 culous products were fed became tuberculous. The results were vari- 

 able, the conditions governing the spread of the disease being (1) the 

 relative susceptibility of the various animals experimented on, (2) the 

 condition of the digestive organs at the time of feeding, (3) the animal 

 from which the germ was derived, (4) the degree of infection of the 

 material fed. 



" It would seem as if the muscle or red tiesli in cattle were antagonistic to the bacil- 

 lus tuberculosis. Certain it is that tubercles are rare in the substance of the muscle. 

 They are, however, very common in the lymphatic glands lying between tlie mus- 

 cles, and in swino thoy are common in the substance even of the red flesh. The flesh 

 of tuberculous pigs is therefore far more dangerous than is that of consumptive 

 cattle. EvcT) in tuberculous cattle, however, the beef is not always free from 

 bacilli. . . . 



"Milk is more to bo dreaded than meat, because the udder is often the seat of tuber- 

 culosis, and tlie milk is usuiilly taken uncooked." 



Some of the authorities quoted obtained tuberculosis by inoculating 

 animals with the milk of tuberculous cows having udders apparently 

 sound, while others failed to obtain tuberculosis by experimental 

 inoculation from similar animals. The author takes the position that 

 whether the milk from tuberculous animals having udders free from 

 tuberculosis is infected or not, it can notbe safely used, and cites experi- 

 ments by Hirschberger, Bang, Ernst, Smith, and Kilborne in support 

 of this proposition. 



" In my own experience 3 calves, from healthy parents, sucking the ai)parently 

 sound udders of 3 cows with general tuberculosis all contracted the disease." 



Several instances are given in support of the proposition that tuber- 

 culosis has been conveyed to human beings through drinking uncooked 

 milk, and to show the identity of tuberculosis in cattle and in man. 



The essentially new portion of the bulletin is the discussion of poison- 

 ing by ptomaines and toxins in the milk and meat of tuberculous ani- 

 mals, a subject which, the author states, has been overlooked heretofore. 

 The author's i>osition is that the tubercle bacillus is not the only inju- 

 rious agency in tuberculous food j)roducts, but that the ptomaines and 

 toxins occurring there are also injurious to those already suffering from 

 tuberculosis even in its mildest stages. In the same manner that 

 tuberculin hastens the tubercular process in diseased animals sub- 

 mitted to the test, so these chemical poisons would hasten the same 

 process in the persons consuming tuberculous products. 



"Accepting as undeniable the presence of the soluble chemical poisons in blood, 

 flesh, and milk, it follows that those who eat this flesh or milk are continually tak- 

 ing in small doses of tuberculin, and that in case they are already the victims 

 of tuberculosis, in however slight or indolent a form, this continuous accession of 



