532 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



he noted the effects upon tuberculous material resulting from tem- 

 peratures insufficient for its actual destruction. He could, by the 

 operation of certain lower temperatures, obtain from "the most 

 deadly tuberculous material" contained in milk a weaker sort of 

 tuberculous matter, so tardy in its operation on test animals as to 

 simulate the slower forms of consumption seen in the human subject ; 

 or, when used to feed pigs, — animals having some specialties of 

 throat structure like that of man, — gave rise to chronic enlargements 

 of the throat glands, resembling the scrofulous glands so common in 

 children. These observations are of much interest to us, not least 

 because they suggest the possibility of widely prevalent forms of 

 human tuberculosis owning an origin in milk. 



In the eighth annual report of the Vermont Agricultural 

 Experiment Station, recently published, upon page 54 we find 

 the following : — 



It is obvious that direct experiment on man with tuberculous 

 material from the lower animals is out of the question. There are on 

 record, however, a number of cases of accidental infection of human 

 beings by the products of tuberculous cattle. There is reason to 

 believe that countless thousands of deaths have occurred due to this 

 source of infection, which have not been thus ascribed and of which 

 no record has been made. Children are more likely to be infected 

 than adults, owing to their tissues being less resistant, and because 

 their chief food is milk. It should not be inferred, however, that 

 disease and death of necessity follow the consumption of tuberculous 

 meat or milk. 



Following this will be found, upon pages 54, 55, 56 and 57 

 of the same report, a minute relation of a large number of 

 cases, in which it seems clear that tuberculosis has been con- 

 tracted by mankind from using as food the milk and meat 

 coming from diseased animals. 



Use of Tuberculin. 

 It is generally agreed, as will be seen by the statements of 

 leading authorities already quoted, that tuberculosis exists in a 

 very large degree among neat stock ; that the existence of such 

 disease in these animals is a menace to a greater or less extent 

 to the human race, through the danger of the transmission of 

 the disease by the consumption of the meat and milk of such 

 animals. And the important question is, What steps can be 



