330 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Theobald Smith at the Bussey Institute, may prove inter- 

 esting : — * 



October 14, four young cattle were bought at Brighton 

 and sent to Bussey Institute, after being tested with tuber- 

 culin and found free from disease. One, a heifer, ear tag 

 No. 687, fifteen or eighteen months old, grade Jersey, was 

 inoculated in the rioht luni>', between the seventh and eighth 

 ribs, with a culture of bacilli resembling those found in 

 human tuberculosis. 



No. 625, grade Holstein bull, about a 3^ear old, was inoc- 

 ulated above the right flank into the peritoneal cavity with 

 part of a culture resembling human tubercle bacilli. 



Ear tag No. 696, grade Holstein steer, about a year old, 

 was inoculated in the right lung, between the seventh and 

 eighth ribs, with some of a culture resembling bovine 

 tubercle bacilli. 



No. 628 was a yearling, grade Holstein bull ; inoculated 

 into the peritoneal cavity near the right flank with some of 

 a culture resembling bovine tubercle bacilli. 



These inoculations were made Saturday, October 18, at 

 the barn near Bussey Institute. 



The cultures of the tubercle bacilli used were obtained 

 from the mesenteric lymphatic glands of two children, each 

 about two years of age, who died in the hospital. Cultures 

 from one gland resembled the human variety of tubercle 

 bacilli, the other resembled the bovine variet}^ The nature 

 of the disease pointed to infection through food, more par- 

 ticularly milk. No. 696, a steer, was killed November 25, 

 as he was evidently badly tuberculous, and it did not seem 

 necessary to keep him longer. The other three animals were 

 killed the middle of December ; the autopsies showed the 

 disease in the animals inoculated Avith the germ of appar- 

 ently bovine origin to be much more virulent than the 

 others. The experiments arc not 3"et completed, but evi- 

 dence already accumulated is strongly in favor of the bovine 

 origin of the disease in one of the children. 



While the infection of human beings from the use of prod- 

 ucts from tuberculous animals, more particularly milk, 

 may not be very frequent, yet it undoubtedly does oeca- 



