MONDAY, AUGUST 10, 1896. 



The Chief Justice (Sir Lambert Dobson) presided at the monthly 

 meeting of the Royal Society of Tasmania on Monday evening, August 

 10th. 



The Secretary (Mr. Alex. Morton) read a letter from Kis Ex- 

 cellency's Private Secretary, expressing the regret of the Governor at 

 his inability to preside. Apologies were received from Sir James 

 Agnew and Mr. James Barnard (Vice-Presidents). 



The following were elected Fellows of the Society : — Messrs. C. W, 

 Butler, F. Lodge, B.A., and J. H. Levings. 



Tuberculosis : (a) Cause, (b) Mode of Infection, (c) Prevention ; (1) 

 bv the Individual, (2) by the SC^te ; by Gregory Sprott, M.D., D.P.H., 

 Health Officer for the City cf Hobart. 



Dr. Sprott said : — Tuberculosis is a specific infectious disease caused 

 by the bacillus tuberculosis. It is common to man and the lower 

 animals. In the human subject it appears in dififerent forms — such as 

 phthisis pulmonalis, tabes mesenterica tubercular meningitis, scrofula, 

 lupus, etc., but these are all casually related to the bacillus of Koch. 

 It has recently been artificially produced in fiah. It may be eaid to be 

 the most widespread disease we have in domesticated animals, though 

 somewhat rare in their wild state. There is no longer any doubt about 

 the bacteriological identity of all these forms of tuberculosis in the 

 different animals it affects, excep*-, perhaps, in the case of fowls. 

 Wherever man goes we find tuberculosis, and where human beings are 

 most crowded together there the mortality is highest. No country is 

 free from it. In many parts of the vast space of Africa, as in the 

 upper part of the Nile, it is almost unknown. With its distribution 

 climate would seem to have very little to do, but some observers hold 

 it is more severe and rapid in tropical than in temperate regions. All 

 are agreed, however, that a moist, damp atmosphere is decidedly 

 favourable to its prevalence. How this acts is not yet determined. 

 Certain seasons of the year have some influence over the prevalence. 

 In Australia the maximum occurs at different seasons in the various 

 colonies. In Tasntiaoia it is October to December. No race of people 

 are exempt, but the Jews seem to enjoy a relative immuoity. Females 

 are said to be more subject to tuberculosis than males, but this varies 

 slightly in different colonies and countries. Tuberculosis is common 

 among infants, and it is estimated that one-fourth of all children dying 

 die of abdominal consumption. In England alone 70,000 deaths occur 

 on an average every year ; 50,000 of these being due to consumption of 

 lungs, and the other 20,000 from other forms of tuberculosis. In 

 Australasia for the three years 1890, 1891, and 1892 the total number of 

 deaths from phthisis alone was 12,243, out of a total number of deaths 

 of 153,069, being about 8 per cent, of all causes. Queensland and 

 Victoria contribute about 9 per cent., while Tasmania and Western 

 Australia contribute only about 6 per cent. With the exception of 

 Western Australia, Tasmania has the best record of all the colonies. 

 If you add the other forms of tubercular disease to this 12,000, you 

 will get a total, say, of 20,000 in three years, which means over 6,000 

 lost to the colonies every year. What an enormous saving of life it 

 would be to the colonies, as well as to Britain, if we could only pre- 

 vent this disease in its many forms ! Tubercular matter taken from 

 the lungs of persons buried for years has been found virulent on 

 inoculation. The modes of entrance by which the infecting bacillus 

 may gain entrance into the body are :— (1) By the respiratory and (2) 

 alimentary tract ; (3) by inoculation. (4) Another mode of infection — 

 hereditary transmission— was to be considered. The channel of infec- 



