17 



tuberculous parents inherit a special predisposition to tiie disease. A 

 similar opinion is entertained by many of the medical profession, but 

 the celebrated Prof. Cohnheim, in his work on tuberculosis, published 

 in Berlin in 1880, denies that man is ever born with a predisposition 

 to tuberculosis any more than to other contagious diseases, as syph- 

 ilis, sniall-pox, or yellow fever. He claims that the "hectic state" is 

 one of the symptoms of the individual already diseased, and not that 

 of one who " may bo." The hereditary transmission of tuberculosis 

 is nothing more than the infection of the ovum or foetus through the 

 medium of one or both of the parents. The germs of tiie disease 

 (spores of Bacillus tuherculosis) may be received into the ovum from 

 the mother, or through the spermatozoids from the father, and these 

 germs may cause the disease in the young, or it may fail to appear 

 till the second generation. It seems to require some peculiar physical 

 condition, not well understood, to cause these oerms, which may have 

 lain dormant through an entire generation, to germinate finally and 

 produce the disease. 



WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS? 



It is exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, in many instances, to 

 recognize bovine tuberculosis in its earliest stages, especially when 

 the disease is located in other organs than the lungs. When, how- 

 ever, the lungs are diseased, or the malady is somewhat advanced, it 

 is not so difficult a matter. The safest way for our farmers is to ac- 

 cept the contagious and hereditary character of the disease, and weed 

 out from a herd every suspected animal, bearing in mind that the 

 owner himself and his family are in the greatest danger of becoming 

 contaminated with this terrible disease. 



The best series of symptoms that I have anywhere seen, are given 

 in the Swiss Archives of Veterinary Medicine, published in Zurich, 

 which, translated into as simple language as is consistent with accu- 

 racy, are as follows : 



Tuberculous animals very often have a short, interrupted and dry 

 cough which is most apparent in the morning, at the time of feeding, 

 and sometimes after active exertion. At the commencement of the 

 disease, the animals are often in good condition, and, with good care 

 and feeding, they may even gain during the earlier stages of the dis 

 ease. As it progresses, however, the animals grow poor, the hair 

 becomes dull, erect and matted, losing its healthy appearance ; the 



