750 Tuberculosis 



From these data it is evident that the bovine bacillus 

 is by far the more virulent and dangerous organism. 



At the International Congress on Tuberculosis, held in 

 London, 1901, Koch expressed the opinion that bovine 

 tuberculosis was not communicable to man. The matter 

 is of the utmost importance to the medical profession and 

 of far-reaching influence upon many important sanitary 

 measures that bear directly upon the public health. 



Koch's opinion, being opposed to all that had been believed 

 before, received almost universal disapproval. The papers 

 by Arloing,* Ravenel,| and Salmon J contain evidence show- 

 ing that under certain conditions bovine tuberculosis can 

 be communicated to man. 



Ravenel has reported 3 cases of accidental cutaneous 

 inoculation of bovine tuberculosis in man. All were veter- 

 inary surgeons who became infected through wounds ac- 

 cidentally inflicted during the performance of necropsies 

 upon tuberculous cattle. The tubercle bacilli were demon- 

 strated in some of the excised cutaneous nodules. 



Theobald Smith, || in studying 3 cases of supposed food 

 infection, found what corresponded biologically with the 

 human rather than the bovine bacillus. 



In a later paper Koch** analyzed the cases usually se- 

 lected from the literature to prove the communicability of 

 bovine tuberculosis to man, and showed that not one of 

 the cases really proves what is claimed for it, and that the 

 subject requires further careful investigation and demon- 

 stration before it will be possible to express any positive 

 opinion in regard to it. 



During the years that have elapsed since 1901 and the 

 present time sentiment has been almost uniformly against 

 Koch, and an enormous literature has accumulated that in 

 reality means very little. The most important is probably 

 the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis of Great Britain, ft 



*"Lyon Med.," Dec. i, 1901. 



t"Univ. of Pa. Bulletin," xiv, p. 238, 1901; "Lancet," Aug. 17 

 and 19, 1901; "Medicine," July and Aug., 1902, vol. vm. 



I " Bull. No. 33, Bureau of Animal Industry," U. S. Dept. of Agricul- 

 ture, 1901. 



"Phila. Med. Jour.," July 21, 1900. 



|| "Amer. Jour. Med. Sciences," Aug. 1904, vol. cxxvni, No. 389, 

 p. 216. 



** Eleventh International Congress for Tuberculosis, Berlin, 1902. 

 ft "See the "British Medical Journal," 1907 and 1908. 



