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IS HUMAN TUBERCULOSIS COMMUNICABLE TO LOWER 

 ANIMALS ? 



The experiments of Villeinin, Chauveivu, Klebs, Orth, Koch and 

 others prove beyond all doubt that if the sputa of consumptive per- 

 sons be injected into the tissues of our domestic animals, it is sure 

 to induce tuberculosis in them ; and if they be conftued in an atmos- 

 phere more or less saturated with such sputa in water, they may also 

 take the disease ; or if fed on the diseased tissues of the lungs, the 

 same result follows. 



Dr. E. G. Janeway reports a case iii the Archives ot Medicine, of 

 a cousnmptive young man who allowed his pet dog to sleep with him 

 nights, nestling in his arms. The dog became affected with a cough 

 and died. Another dog shared the same fate, and a third began to 

 cough, when its owner died, and the dog subsequently recovered. 



Several cases are on record of cats and hens eating the sputa of 

 consumptive patients, and thus taking the disease. 



Dr. E. De Renzi found that the blood of tuberculous patients in- 

 jected into the tissues of rabbits would produce the disease, though 

 not as certainly as the sputa. This seems to indicate that the bacilli 

 are in the blood, but not so numerous as in the sputa. 



Koch made experiments on guinea-pigs with tuberculous sputa 

 which had been kept dry for two weeks, for four weeks, and for 

 eifht weeks, and in each case it was found to have retained its full 

 virulence, and induced the disease as certainly as fresh sputa. It is 

 therefore safe to assume that the sputa of consumptive persons, even 

 when dried on linen, or distributed in the dust of a room, or in a 

 barn, may prove a source of infection to both man and beast. 



IS BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS COMMUNICABLE TO MAN? 



From the nature of the case, we cannot expect direct experiments 

 to be made on man with tuberculous matter from other animals, but 

 so many cases are on record which seem to prove that human beings 

 are frequently infected with tuberculosis, through the milk or flesh of 

 cows, that it seems like madness to disregard them. It is more than 

 probable, that when children are fed with milk from tuberculous cows, 

 serious intestinal disturbances or even tubercular meningitis may 

 occur. 



