328 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



Dr. Morgagni, a celebrated Italian physician, more than a 

 century ago claimed that the virulent matter contained in 

 the expired air of a consumptive patient was very infectious, 

 and liable to transmit the malady by inhalation ; and he 

 .claimed this from his own observations, yet he was generally 

 disbelieved. Recent demonstrations and experiments by 

 Dr. Tappenia, who caused animals to inhale fine tuber- 

 culous matter which had l)ecn evaporated and thrown 

 into a room .by a steam atomizer, showed that ninety per 

 cent of all the puppies confined therein from twenty-five to 

 forty days showed well-marked miliary tubercles in both 

 lungs ; thus demonstrating, in a very conclusive manner, 

 that the bacillus germs maybe borne by the breath, and may 

 become exceedingly dangerous. In the " Brooklyn Medical 

 Journal," of December, 1889, Cornet writes of certain 

 experiments made upon animals with the dust from the walls 

 of the rooms occupied by tul)erculous patients. AV'ith this 

 dust in sterilized broth, he injected the i)eritoneal cavities of 

 healthy animals. All of these animals died in course of 

 time with typical bacillus tuberculosis. The dust used was 

 obtained from walls in hospital wards, and from walls of 

 rooms in private houses. The bacilli in the dust came from 

 the dried and powdered sputum ; and he emphasizes the 

 statement that direct or indirect contact with the mouth of a 

 tuberculous })hthisical person should be avoided. 



A case directly to this point : a German midwife, who had 

 tuberculosis far advanced, blew into the mouth of ten new- 

 born infants, as was her custom, at birth. Every one of 

 those infants died in a short time with tuberculous disease ; 

 while another midwife, who was well, did the same thing to 

 eight other children, doing no harm. Another trustworthy 

 experiment was by Dr. Villemin in Paris, in 1865, who 

 inoculated a number of rabbits and guinea-})igs with tubercles 

 from a human lung, in different parts of the b^dy ; yet the 

 effect was general, as the various examinations revealed after 

 death ; and the same experiments from the matter of a cow 

 revealed the same result. 



Professor Cliauveau of the Lyons Veterinary School, in 

 1868, found that rich virulent matter would infect an animal 

 through the digestive organs quite as readily as in any other 



