Annual Report for 1911 of Royal Veterivary College. 361 



question is embodied .in the concluding paragraph of their 

 report, wliich is as follows : — 



" Bovine tubercle bacilli are apt to be abundantly present 

 in milk as sold to the public when there is tuberculous disease 

 of the udder of the cow from which it was obtained. This 

 fact is, we believe, generally recognised though not adequately 

 guarded against. But these bacilli may also be present in the 

 milk of tuberculous cows presenting no evidence whatever of 

 disease of the udder, even when examined post-mortem. 

 Further, the milk of tuberculous cows not containing bacilli 

 as it leaves the udder may, and frequently does, become 

 infected by being contaminated with the fa3ces or uterine 

 discharges of such diseased animal. We are convinced that 

 measures for securing the prevention of ingestion of living 

 bovine tubercle bacilli with milk would greatly reduce the 

 number of cases of abdominal and cervical gland tuberculosis 

 in children, and that such measures should include the exclu- 

 sion from the food supply of the milk of the recognisably 

 tuberculous cow, irrespective of the site of the disease, whether 

 in the udder or in the internal organs." 



This paragraph is quoted here not so much because it 

 probably foreshadows the alterations likely to be made in the 

 existing law in order to pi'event or limit the danger that human 

 beings may become infected with tu])ercle bacilli derived from 

 cattle, as liecause it suggests to farmers and dairymen what are 

 the steps which they themselves ought immediately to take 

 with the same object. What they have to guard against above 

 everj'thing else is (1) allowing milk to be sold or supplied for 

 human food which comes from a cow presenting symptoms of 

 tuberculosis of the udder, because there is no doubt that that is 

 the main source of the bacilli found in milk. (2) Even 

 although the udder appears to be perfectly healthy the milk 

 ought to be condemned if, on account of emaciation, cough, or 

 other obvious signs, the owner has good reason to suspect that 

 the cow is suffering from tuberculosis. The necessity for this 

 precaution lies in the fact that, although as a rule the milk 

 does not contain tubex'cle bacilli while the udder is healthy, 

 there is sufficient evidence to show that in the late stages of 

 tuberculosis the milk may contain tubercle bacilli in spite of 

 the absence of any evidence of disease in the mammary gland 

 itself. (8) Every possible effort should be made to prevent the 

 admission into milk, either at the time of milking or afterwards, 

 of impurities, and especially of particles of excrement and 

 other dirt from the cow or cow byi*e. Such precautions are 

 necessary because the commonest form of tuberculosis in 

 cattle is that in which the disease affects the lungs, and in such 

 cases bacilli that are coughed up from the lungs are for the 



