34 2 Tuberculosis 



So long as tuberculosis exists among men or cattle, it 

 shows that existing hygienic precautions are insufficient. 

 While condemning any unreasonable isolation of patients, 

 I favor the registration of tuberculous cases as a means of 

 collecting accurate data concerning their origin ; insist upon 

 the careful domestic sterilization and disinfection of all 

 articles used by the patients ; recommend public disinfection 

 of the houses they cease to occupy; and approve of special 

 hospitals for as many, especially of the poorer classes, among 

 whom hygienic measures are almost always opposed, as can 

 be persuaded to occupy them. 



BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS. 

 BACILLUS TUBERCULOSIS Bovis. 



The tuberculous diseases of the lower animals and espe- 

 cially cattle have lesions closely resembling those of human 

 tuberculosis, and containing bacilli similar both in morphol- 

 ogy and in staining reaction to those found in human 

 tuberculosis. The conclusion that they are identical seems 

 inevitable. In his monograph upon tuberculosis Koch 

 called attention to certain morphologic and cultural differ- 

 ences that exist between bacilli obtained from human and 

 from animal tuberculosis, but very little attention was paid 

 to the subject until recently. 



It has not yet been determined that any other difference 

 exists between the two bacilli than can be accounted for 

 upon biologic grounds, each organism being modified to 

 accommodate itself to its environment. 



Though occasional desultory experiments have been made 

 from time to time, the subject seems to have met its first 

 thorough study at the hands of Theobald Smith,* who care- 

 fully compared a series of bacilli obtained from human 

 sputum with another series obtained from cattle, horses, 

 hogs, cats, dogs, and other animals. 



His observations form the foundation of the following 

 description of the bovine tubercle bacillus : 



Morphology. The size of the bovine bacillus is quite 

 constant, the individuals being quite short (1-2 ft). They 

 are straight, not very regular in outline, and sometimes 

 of a spindle, sometimes a barrel, and sometimes an oval 



* "Trans. Assoc. of Amer. Phys.," 1896, xi, p. 75, and 1898, xm, p. 

 417. 



