62 THE DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



the production of eliildren, is it not still more imperatively de- 

 manded of us to take the health of these products of our lust more 

 frequently than our good sense into earnest consideration by select- 

 ing a partner from families in which these tendencies have attained 

 the least possible strength ? 



Have we any right to condemn children thus to lives of misery 

 and early graves? What stock-raisers do for their pockets, man- 

 kind should certainly have sense enough to do for their own off- 

 spring. 



" 'Tis through ignorance they do it." 



The blame falls upon the shoulders of an incompetent, avari- 

 cious medical profession. Consumptive families bring large fees, 

 help to buy corner-lots, and enable the great doctor to ride com- 

 fortably about with coupe and coachman. 



But to return to our subject. This disease of cattle has been 

 practically known to exist for a long time. Its cause has been sought 

 in all sorts of absurdities, such as acrid or irritable substances in 

 food or water. Even hereditary influences failed for a long time of 

 their due appreciation. In Germany the disease is also known as 

 the " Franzosenkrankheit," or French disease. It probably received 

 the name when everything evil which befell the German race was 

 only too willingly attributed to their French neighbors as well as 

 conquerors. 



The first intimation that some irritating or infectious elements 

 were contained in the milk of cows having this disease is due to 

 Gerlach, the most noted of all German veterinarians, and late di- 

 rector of the Royal Veterinary Institute at Berlin. 



The experiments of Yillemin, Klebs, Orth, and many others, 

 have amply demonstrated that the elements from tuberculous dis- 

 eased lungs, lyrnph-glands, and other organs, contained some pe- 

 culiar infectious material capable of producing a similar disease 

 when inoculated upon, or in some cases fed to, animals by way of 

 experiment. 



With reference to the milk of tuberculous diseased cows, the 

 honor of priority is unquestionably Gerlach's. 



Here we have to do with a question of manifold character. ]N^ot 

 only is the j)ublic health threatened, but both the nation and each 

 individual dairyman, or cow-owner, has to face a question of no 

 secondary economical importance. 



If the experimental results obtained by Gerlach and other ob- 

 servers, both German and French, become universally accepted, then 

 governments have no other recom-se than to order the most exact 



