THE MILK SITUATION IN THE DISTRICT OP COLUMBIA. 73 



rise to numerous endeavors on the part of scientific men to establish 

 the truth or fallacy of the position newly assumed by this eminent 

 authority. The results obtained by governmental commissions in 

 different countries, as well as by many public and private scientists, 

 have been so strikingly in accord, in controverting the position taken 

 by Prof. Koch, that it is now the generally accepted opinion among 

 savants that the disease is communicable from beast to man, espe- 

 cially in the case of children. To what extent such infection occurs 

 it is not possible from the nature of things to definitely ascertain, 

 but evidence which must be considered as conclusive has been ob- 

 tained by the Bureau of Animal Industry, as well as by Ravenel and 

 a number of French investigators, showing that the percentage of 

 cases indicating the transmission of the disease is probably consider- 

 ably greater than claimed by the authorities who have estimated 

 the relative amount of infection from these sources. As vital sta- 

 tistics demonstrate that 11 out of every 100 persons who die suc- 

 cumb to tuberculosis of one form or another, wnile of the remaining 

 89 more than one-half show tubercular lesions on post-mortem 

 examination, the value of imposing every reasonable protection 

 against infection may readily be appreciated. Since objective experi- 

 ments on living human beings are not practicable, the finding of the 

 bovine type of tubercle bacillus in human lesions is the most direct 

 and positive proof that tuberculous cattle are responsible for a certain 

 amount of tuberculosis in the human family. 



In a series of tests conducted by the British Royal Commission on 

 Tuberculosis, 60 cases of the disease among human beings were tested, 

 with the result that 14 cases were regarded by the commission as 

 having been infected from bovine sources. 



Dr. William H. Park, of New York City, a recognized authority 

 in this country on the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis, has 

 recently found 6 cases of bovine infection in 35 samples of in- 

 testinal tuberculosis among infants, and 10 cases due to the bovine 

 type of bacillus out of 35 cases of surgical tuberculosis, representing 

 altogether about 23 per cent of the cases in children due to bovine 

 infection. Of 306 cases reported by Ravenel, 63, or approximately 

 20 per cent, were found to be due to the bovine tubercle bacillus. 



Dr. Schroeder, in his interesting article on The Unsuspected But 

 Dangerously Tuberculous Cow, issued December 21, 1907, 1 sets forth 

 the dangers of infection from contaminated milk in a manner which 

 the committee deems worthy of repetition. He says (on p. 16) : 



If the public were thoroughly informed of the dangers, among which tuber- 

 culosis is only one of many, to which it is exposed through the use of impure, 

 dirty, and infected milk, the demand for milk of approved purity would rise 

 to the magnitude of a concerted national movement and would sweep all ob- 

 jections and difficulties out of its way. Inform a man that a single one among 

 many loaves of bread you do not know which is contaminated with arsenic, 

 strychnine, or some other commonly dreaded poison, and he will go very hungry 

 before he risks eating any loaf of the lot. He knows what arsenic and 

 strychnine are and what he must expect from their introduction into his 

 stomach. Yet he continues to use milk and dairy products and permits his 

 family to use them without first testing their purity or insisting that the doubt 

 about their purity be removed, notwithstanding that they have repeatedly been 

 shown to contain poisons fully as objectionable and potent as those above named, 

 such as the germs of tuberculosis, typhoid fever, scarlet fever, diphtheria, and 



1 Circular No. 118, Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



