100 



milk is supplied to the fever hospitals no less than forty were re- 

 jected, thirty of them being positive and the other ten doul)tfnl 

 reactions — truly an alarming proportion when we consider that 

 these would all be good-looking beasts which had received the 

 critical attention of the dairy owner beforehand in the full knowl- 

 edge that they were to be tested. The danger is not, of course, 

 that all the reacting animals give infective milk, but that such a 

 degree of prevalence of tuberculosis must mean the presence of a 

 high proportion of dangerously infected animals in our herds. It 

 is now five years since the Commission on Tuberculosis reported 

 that "cows' milk containing bovine tubercle bacilli is clearly a 

 cause of tuberculosis, and of fatal tuberculosis, in man." Neither 

 the Board of Agriculture nor the Local Government Board has 

 been sufficiently active in the matter, but we note with pleasure 

 that ^Ir. John Burns has given notice of the introduction of a 

 new milk bill into the House of Commons. — TJie Lancet. 



MEDICIXAL AXD OTHER PROPERTIES OF THE 

 PAP AW (PAPAYA). 



The milky juice of the unripe fruit of the papaw tree is ad- 

 mitted by high medical authorities to be an efficient vermifuge, 

 and a similar property is possessed by the seeds, which have a 

 pleasant flavor resembling that of cress. The juice is also a good 

 cosmetic, which is used for the removal of freckles. But the 

 most remarkable thing connected with the papaw tree is property 

 possessed by the milky juice of the unripe fruit of separating the 

 fibers of flesh and making it tender. The late L. A. Bernays, 

 who was undoubtedly a reliable authority on the properties of 

 plants and fruits, says, in his valuable work on "The Cultural 

 Industries dt Queensland," that this property is not confined to 

 the juice of the fruit, but the very exhalations of the tree are said 

 to possess it ; and of this fact the Brazilian butchers take advan- 

 tage to make their toughest meat saleable. This is accomplished 

 by suspending the newly-killed meat in the tree, or by wraj^ping 

 it in the leaves. So powerful is this softening action of the 

 juice that it must be used with caution, or the meat will drop 

 to pieces, which makes it more unpalatable than if left in its orig- 

 inal condition of toughness. 



Some interesting experiments were made some years ago upon 

 this subject at the Royal Agricultural ?^Iuseum, Berlin. A por- 

 tion of the juice was dissolved in three times its weight of water, 

 and this was jjlaced with 15 lb. of (juitc fresh, lean beef in one 

 piece in distilled water, and boiled for ? minutes, lielow the 

 boiling point, the meat fell into several pieces, and at the close of 

 the experiment it had separated into coarse shreds. The juice 

 can be dried without losing its eflFcct, but its efficiency in this 

 resi)ect does not appear to have been tested over a longer period 



