520 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



The recognition of tuberculous disease during the life of an animal 

 is not wholly unattended with difficulty. Happily, however, it can, 

 in most cases, be detected with certainty in the udders of milch cows. 



Provided every part that is the seat of tuberculous matter be 

 avoided and destroyed, and provided care be taken to save from con- 

 tamination by such matter the actual meat substance of a tuberculous 

 animal, a great deal of meat from animals affected by tuberculosis 

 may be eaten without risk to the consumer. 



Ordinary processes of cooking applied to meat which has become 

 contaminated on its surface are probably sufficient to destroy the 

 harmful quality. They would not avail to render wholesome any 

 piece of meat that contained tuberculous matter in its deeper parts. 

 In regard to milk, we are aware of the preference by English people 

 for drinking cows' milk raw, a practice attended by danger, on 

 account of possible contamination by pathogenic organisms. The 

 boiling of milk, even for a moment, would probably be sufficient to 

 remove the very dangerous quality of tuberculous milk. 



In a bulletin very recently issued from the experiment sta- 

 tion of the Agricultural College of Iowa the following state- 

 ments are made as a result of investigations conducted by 

 several scientists : — 



Milk from tuberculous cows may convey disease to the consumer. 

 Milk from tuberculous cows having non-affected udders may con- 

 vey the disease. 



At a meeting of the Association of New England Cattle 

 Commissions, held at Providence in September last, many in- 

 stances w r ere related by the members present of cases which 

 have come to their personal knowledge, wherein, undoubtedly, 

 disease had been communicated to people partaking of the 

 milk of diseased animals. Several delegates related instances 

 where members of their own family had died of tuberculosis, 

 contracted, in their opinion, from the use of the milk of tuber- 

 culous cows. It is to be regretted that the statements made at 

 this meeting cannot be more fully given ; but, as no shorthand 

 reporter was present, a full report was not made ; but the evi- 

 dence as appealing to those present at the meeting was, to say 

 the least, startling. 



Upon this subject Dr. F. H. Rich of the Burlington, Vt., 

 Experiment Station, read a very interesting paper upon the 



