332 CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. 



tuberculous cow is greatly increased if the mammary gland be in 

 a condition of inflammation, the seat of an abscess, or in a state 

 of induration, as — in addition to the deficient nutritive value of 

 all milk from tuberculous cows, which is blue in colour, thin in 

 consistency, and in some cases contains cyanides — it will in 

 such an instance be tainted with bacilli, and be a direct means 

 of infecting the human being, particularly young and delicate 

 infants. The boiling of milk and the thorough cooking of meat 

 destroys with certainty the bacilli, and all suspected milk should 

 be so treated. Let the veterinary surgeon, when called upon to give 

 his opinion, consider the sacredness of his position, and — even if he 

 chance to offend a client — do his duty towards his fellow-beings. 

 The majority of the veterinary profession are in favour of 

 preventing the flesh of all tuberculous cattle — no matter what its 

 condition and appearance may be — being used as human food ; 

 but I cannot support the wholesale condemnation of such flesh ; 

 and, whilst maintaining that such flesh, when properly dressed, 

 and all tubercular growths with adherent flesh have been care- 

 fully removed, is fit for food, I must explain that if it present 

 any appearance of being watery, pale, or otherwise unhealthy, I 

 should not hesitate in at once expressing my conviction that it 

 should not be used as food for man. 



TUBERCULOSIS OF THE HORSE. 



The horse is seldom affected with tuberculosis, and it is only 

 seen in isolated cases, never attacking many animals in the same 

 stable. An inquiry into the life history of tuberculous horses 

 has enabled the author to discover that in several instances, 

 where the history could be traced (the animals being still in the 

 hands of the breeders), they had when foals been fed on cows' 

 milk either after they had been taken from the mothers, or 

 where the mare had been a bad mother or had died. In these 

 cases the spleen and mesenteric glands were the seats of 

 the lesions, which to a lesser extent involved the liver and 

 bronchial glands. 



As in cattle, the symptoms in the horse are generally very 

 obscure, except in one particular, namely, that it is always associ- 

 ated with a more or less rapid emaciation. If the pulmonary organs 

 are involved, there may be a cough, hurried respirations, particu- 

 larly if excited by exercise or any other cause, and abnormal 



