248 



One conclusion is very clear after reading the result of Mr 

 Park's post mortem examination, and that is, that the larger the 

 tumour on the jaw and the more ulcerated it is, the more ex- 

 tensively are the internal organs affected. 



It is probable that the deposits in the internal organs are secondary 

 deposits and that the primary seat of disease is in the jaw. But it 

 is easy to obtain many specimens of tuberculosis in lungs and other 

 organs, in animals in which there is no outward manifestation of the 

 disease. 



Mr. Willows, in his report on Tuberculosis, printed by theN. S.W. 

 Government, is inclined to attribute the existence of this pest in 

 rabbits to the prevalence of tuberculosis, and in a minor degree of 

 osteosarcoma in Tasmanian cattle. It is conceivable that in rare 

 instances rabbits may have ingested some tuberculous matter, 

 voided from cattle ; but as rabbits are not carnivorous and living on 

 succulent food, are not often seen to drink, this explanation does not 

 appear to me to afford a sufficiently open channel for the dissemination 

 of the virus. 



It may be asked again, Whence did the cattle obtain their germs 

 of the disease 1 Is it not more likely that the rabbits in their turn 

 infected the cattle. We know that the disease exists among 

 kangaroo. It is impossible, I believe, to say which order of animals 

 first infected the other. Rather do we know that both among men 

 and animals the germs of scrofula exist in abundance, that the 

 disease has been handed down from time immemorial, and/arising 

 primarily we may surmise from a degeneration of healthy cells has 

 been perpetuated by in-breeding, by over-feeding, and in some 

 climates by the close confinement of cattle during the winter months, 

 and that it is always ready to declare itself at certain critical periods 

 in weakly animals, as for instance during the eruption of the molar 

 teeth. 



The evidence of Mr. Kendall, given before the Tuberculosis Board 

 in Victoria is so important that I quote it in full from Australasian^ 

 Feb 1884, and will discuss some of his conclusions and recom- 

 mendations. "Mr. Kendall considered the disease to be commonest 

 among shorthorns. He had seen several cases of tuberculosis of 

 brain and he differed from others, in considering ulceration of 

 intestines to be comparatively common at least in calves, and 

 in holding that the udder was affected in many cases. He saw little 

 of this disease till about 3 years ago, but last year, 1883, he estimated 

 that he had seen about 100 diseased animals living and dead. Had 

 found it once in a native bear and in a baboon at the Zoo, but had 

 not observed the disease in sheep, pigs, or rabbits. True cancer in 

 cattle was rare, most supposed cases being really scrofulous diseases 

 of the glands about the head and neck. The duration of the disease 

 was very uncertain, and might be rapidly fatal or might last for 

 years, an animal, perhaps, being fat even after a year. He thought 

 the disease widely spread, and prevalent in the colonj^ The 

 animals most frequently affected were Shorthorns and Ayrshires, 

 and he lately saw a very marked case in an Ayrshire bull, which was 

 being used for stud purposes. He considered that the scrofulous 

 disease of glands was most common among animals of two to four 

 years, while in calves the joints often were diseased. The disease 

 called " foul " affecting the feet in old cattle, he considered to be 



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