Bovine Tuberculosis 389 



inary surgeons who became infected through wounds 

 accidentally inflicted during the performance of necropsies 

 upon tuberculous cattle. The tubercle bacilli were demon- 

 strated in some of the excised cutaneous nodules. 



Theobald Smith,* in studying three cases of supposed food 

 infection, found what corresponded biologically with the 

 human rather than the bovine bacillus. 



In a later paper Kochf analyzed the cases usually se- 

 lected from the literature to prove the communicability of 

 bovine tuberculosis to man, and showed that not one of 

 the cases really proves what is claimed for it, and that the 

 subject requires further careful investigation and demon- 

 stration before it will be possible to express any positive 

 opinion in regard to it. 



During the years that have elapsed since 1901 and the 

 present time sentiment has been almost uniformly against 

 Koch, and an enormous literature has accumulated that in 

 reality means very little. The most important is probably 

 the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis of Great Britain. { 

 The general tenor of this report is contrary to Koch's views, 

 and many believed it settled the subject. At the Inter- 

 national Congress on Tuberculosis in Washington, 1908, 

 Koch reviewed the subject and stated his continued belief 

 in the principle he had enumerated seven years before. 

 Practically the same contentions were raised against him 

 by much the same group of men, but the controversy was 

 more bitter than before. Koch, however, leaves us in no 

 doubt upon the subject, summarizing his views in these 

 words : 



1. The tubercle bacilli of bovine tuberculosis are different from 



those of human tuberculosis. 



2. Human beings may be infected by bovine tubercle bacilli, but 



serious diseases from this cause occur very rarely. 



3. Preventive measures against tuberculosis should, therefore, 



be directed primarily against the propagation of human 

 tubercle bacilli. 



He weighed the contrary evidence that had been col- 

 lected during seven years, showed how errors had crept 

 into the investigations, and laid down certain rules to be 



* " Amer. Jour. Med. Sciences," Aug. 1904, vol. cxxvm, No. 389, 

 p. 216. 



t Eleventh International Congress for Tuberculosis, Berlin, 1902. 



t See the "British Medical Journal," 1907 and 1908. 



"Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc.," Oct. 10, 1908, n, No. 15, p. 1256. 



