710 Diseases of the Genital Organs 



B. abortus and the assignment to it of specific abortifacient 

 powers, the question arose regarding the possibility of the 

 infection invading pregnant women and causing abortion. 

 A few inconclusive observations were recorded. Occasion- 

 ally the blood of men and women agglutinates the B. abortus, 

 but no extended study of the prevalence of the organism in 

 the human body has been attempted. Natural infection 

 with B. abortus has been recorded in swine and guinea pigs, 

 and experimental infection in all domestic mammals. It 

 would not be surprising, therefore, if a thorough search 

 showed the B. abortus to be a very common resident of the 

 human body without striking evidence of peril to health. 

 The general infections of the genital tracts of cattle, which 

 cause such an appalling amount of disease, not only in 

 adults, but in fertilized ova, the embryo, the fetus and the 

 calf, probably offer at this time one of the most valuable 

 fields for the study of animal diseases in connection 

 with human health. There has been much inconclusive 

 argument regarding the virtues and vices of raw and 

 cooked, clean and dirty, rich and poor milk as a health- 

 ful food for man, especially for children and for the 

 infirm. It has appeared to me unfortunate that the 

 primary study of the effect of feeding milk to the 

 young has been carried out chiefly upon children. There has 

 been built up a system of dairy inspection based upon cer- 

 tain theoretical considerations of the outside of the prob- 

 lem. If that is properly gilded, the deeper facts are ignored. 

 One often sees "certified" milk being sold at an advanced 

 price as food for children, while the calves in the dairy, to 

 which part of the same milk is being fed, are sick and dying. 

 So our dairy inspection maintains in effect that milk which 

 is perilously toxic for calves is "certifiable" for infants. 



The anatomic position of the mammae of the cow just ifies 

 the general assertion that the milk contains some parts of 

 any genital discharges which are occurring. Hygienically 

 this contamination is theoretically reduced to the minimum 

 through the formal rules for the production of "certified" 

 milk. In the average dairy, sixty per cent, of the cows, if 

 examined five days after calving, have two or three ounces 



