122 KEPOKT OF THE No. 55 



sympathy than there is for the man who puts little apples in the bottom of the barrel 

 and decayed ones in the centre, or the manufacturer who makes use of peanut 

 shells to make breakfast food. 



THE TUBERCULOUS COW MUST GO. 



With a system of thorough inspection should be launched a strong and intel- 

 ligent effort to combat tuberculosis among cattle, the ravages of wliich in this Pro- 

 vince make it at once the most dreaded and destructive of bovine diseases. This 

 aspect of the question must be considered from two standpoints from the stand- 

 point of the financial loss to dairymen which it annually entails, and from the 

 more important and likewise more controversial standpoint of the loss of human 

 life through contaminated milk. 



That there is 1 a steady annual financial loss through the wasting and death 

 of tuberculous cows, there can be no doubt, but the amount cannot even be estimated 

 as no records are kept. As to the prevalence of the disease, there is a wide range 

 of opinion. Special enquiries were made. In Western Ontario, veterinarians 

 stated that twenty to twenty-five per cent, of the cattle were diseased. In Toronto, 

 an eminent veterinarian expressed the opinion that not more than five per cent. 

 of the ordinary dairy cattle suffered, but that it was* much more prevalent in the 

 pure-bred cattle. In Eastern Ontario, the estimate was placed at fifteen to twenty 

 per cent., but of a herd of 118 well bred Jerseys on a farm near Ottawa, 90 re- 

 acted to the tuberculin test in 1908, although all were splendid looking and appar- 

 ently healthy animals. Of the 1978 cattle which, according to the latest report, 

 were voluntarily tested under the supervision of the Health of Animals' Branch at 

 Ottawa as a result of the free distribution of tuberculin, 263, or about 12 per 

 cent., reacted. Of course it is to be remembered that these were suspected of be- 

 ing infected and the percentage may not be representative. These figures, although 

 necessarily only estimates, will give some idea of the magnitude and seriousness 

 of the problem. With 1,075,496 milch and 1,595,088 other cattle in the Province 

 according to the figures of 1909, even the lowest estimate of five per cent, means 

 there are over 125,000 more or less' tuberculous animals. It is to be feared, how- 

 ever, that the true total would be nearer double that number. From the point of 

 view, therefore, of the dairy and beef industry, strong and intelligent steps should 

 be taken to curtail the ravages of bovine tuberculosis. 



TUBERCULOSIS FROM CONTAMINATED MILK. 



We, however, are chiefly concerned with the question of the danger of tuber- 

 culosis from contaminated milk, and are first confronted with the old scientific 

 controversy "is bovine tuberculosis communicable to man ?" If it is not, the mat- 

 ter is easily disposed of, but if it is, then there is a grave situation to be faced, and 

 faced candidly. 



It is not necessary here to go at any great depth into the intricacies of the 

 controversy which has raged in the scientific world for s'ome years past. The story 

 may be briefly told. Tuberculosis is not hereditary, but a person may inherit a 

 predisposition to it. There are two Schools of thought one maintaining that 

 tuberculosis is almost entirely caused by " inhalation," that is, by breathing in germ- 

 laden air; the other maintaining that a large percentage is caused by "ingestion," 

 that is, the germ being taken into the digestive tract with tuberculous milk or other 

 products. Prof. Eobert Koch, the eminent German scientist, is the chief exponent 



