Microbic Diseases Individually Considered. 241 



of compulsory exclusion of such flesh from public 

 consumption. This question has been lengthily dis- 

 cussed in the various congresses; without insisting 

 further on the matter we will say that it is clearly 

 connected with the question of the compulsory 

 slaughter of all tuberculous animals. Indeed, before 

 any diminution in the amount of flesh liable to seizure 

 can be obtained the contagion must be checked be- 

 tween the living individuals. But, in the absence of 

 any special provision of sanitary police in regard to 

 such cases, the owners retain until the last stage, and 

 in contact with healthy cows, those animals which, 

 on account of their poor condition, they are unable 

 to sell but the milk of which still secures for them a 

 certain amount of profit. 



"We have now reviewed the different means by 

 which the germs of tuberculosis are transported from 

 diseased to healthy subjects. The receptivity of the 

 subject Inlays an important role in the genesis of the 

 process. It is very often dependent upon a special 

 predisposition to the disease ; this aptitude to contract 

 tuberculosis may be acquired, in which case it results 

 from the prolonged influence of bad hygienic condi- 

 tions, or it may be transmitted to an individual by his 

 ancestors. Heredity of the predisposition is a very 

 common occurrence and one especially well recog- 

 nized in the human family. 



Acute or chronic catarrhal affections of the respi- 

 ratory or alimentary passages favor the implantation 

 of the tubercular virus either by diminishing the 

 resistance of the tissues and of the organism or by 

 producing solutions of continuity by which the germs 

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