No. 4.] CATTLE COMMISSIONERS' REPORT. 533 



taken to remove or lessen the danger of the transmission of 

 this disease through the medium of milk and meat? 



Of course the danger from this source can be removed by 

 ceasing to use the milk and meat product of such animals ; but 

 such a step is utterly impossible, as this forms such a large pro- 

 portion of the food of the human race. If this product must 

 continue to be used, the question would arise, Can it be so puri- 

 fied as to remove or destroy the contagious principle contained 

 in it, or can steps be taken to prevent such product containing 

 such contagious principle? To remove the contagious princi- 

 ple from the milk or meat before consumption is, as a whole, 

 impracticable, as has already been shown in other portions of 

 this report. Sterilization of milk as ordinarily conducted, 

 and the cooking of beef in the manner that it is ordinarily 

 done, are not sufficient to destroy the germ, although they may 

 to a greater or less extent lessen the danger from this source. 

 Inasmuch as it is impossible to know without special experi- 

 mentation whether the milk or beef in each particular case con- 

 tains the contagious principle, such a system, to be at all 

 adequate, would require the sterilization of all of this product; 

 there is no practical means of accomplishing this, even if it 

 would result in the destruction of the germ, for the reason that 

 the public at large, not realizing the importance of the work, 

 would not take the necessary steps. 



In the case of milk, the Royal Commission were of the opin- 

 ion that nothing short of boiling would destroy the contagious 

 principle ; and it is a well-known fact that in boiling milk its 

 constituents are so thoroughly changed that it is not as useful 

 as a food, especially for infants, as that which has not been sub- 

 jected to this great degree of heat. As a public sanitary meas- 

 ure, therefore, any system looking to the sterilization of the 

 milk product, as a whole, would fall short of accomplishing the 

 desired result. We must, therefore, either eliminate from the 

 milk product that which is diseased, and destroy it, or we must 

 see that the source from which the milk is derived is free from 

 disease. It is impracticable, as a public sanitary measure, to 

 eliminate the diseased milk and meat by means of any system- 

 atic examination of those products, as distinguished from the 

 animal from which it is derived. The bacilli are so minute, and 

 often widely scattered, that, even if these products could be 



