No. 4.] CATTLE COMMISSIONERS' REPORT. 523 



can be no doubt that tuberculosis is frequently transmitted from cat- 

 tle to the human family ; and we therefore recommend the enactment 

 of laws that will suppress this dangerous disease among cattle. 



At a meeting of the Suffolk District Medical Society, a divi- 

 sion of the Massachusetts Medical Society, held on April 27, 

 1895, the following resolve was unanimously adopted : — 



Resolved, That the existence of tuberculosis among neat cattle 

 within this Commonwealth is a menace to the public health, as we 

 believe that bovine and human tuberculosis are identical, — that is, 

 that they are caused by the same germ, and that it is possible for t^e 

 disease to be transmitted from the lower animals to man by the use 

 of milk or meat from diseased animals. "We shall heartily endorse 

 any methods that may be undertaken by the State which will include 

 a careful and thorough examination of all animals from which milk 

 supply is obtained, and which shall also keep a close supervision over 

 the meat products coming from slaughter houses within the Common- 

 wealth. 



Circumstances determining Danger to Man from Meat and 

 Milk of Tuberculous Organs. 



In regard to the danger from the use of meat, we quote fur- 

 ther from the report of the Royal Commission : — 



"We regard it, then, as established that any person who takes tuber- 

 culous matter into the body as food incurs risk of acquiring tubercu- 

 lous disease ; and we know that this matter may be found in parts of 

 animals affected by the disease. It is therefore of the first impor- 

 tance to us to note what parts of a tuberculous animal are liable to 

 contain this tuberculous matter, having well-marked characters of its 

 own, and among them the bacilli, which form an integral part of the 

 disease. From this view point we would report separately upon 

 meat and milk derived from these animals, and begin our considera- 

 tion with meat. 



We find it necessary, in our study of the " circumstances and con- 

 ditions, with regard to tuberculosis in the animal," which endanger 

 human health, to include in our definition of meat the various parts of 

 the tuberculous food animal, and to assume a certain acquaintance 

 with the actual presence of tubercle in the several parts. When, on 

 the other hand, we wish to speak of the customary "joint" of the 



