189J.] 15<^ 



Dr. George K, Morehouse, Messrs. William V. McKean and 

 Eobert Patterson. 



Dr. Rothrock read a paper on " The Present Condition and 

 Fnture Prospect of the Pennsylvania Forests." 



Dr. Morris corroborated the destruction of timber by insects 

 as referred to in Dr. Rothrock's paper. 



Dr. Morris read the following communication on " Tubercu- 

 losis in Animals : " 



Some months since I was present at the slaughter of a herd of cattle on 

 account of a dread of their being tainted with tuberculosis. This disease 

 had been diagnosed as present in the original herd more than two months 

 previously and all suspected animals had then been killed. The farmer, 

 however, was not satisfied that the disease had been stamped out, and pre- 

 ferred to have the rest slaughtered while still in good condition for food as 

 determined by experts who were present. In the lungs of two of them a few 

 hard nodules were found, and on the intestinal walls of nearly all were 

 small round masses which, on being incised, gave vent to a greenish, 

 gritty, cheesy mass. In the opinion of the veterinary surgeon who was 

 present these were not tubercular. They reminded me more of such small, 

 cheesy masses as are often found in human post-mortem examinations and 

 are apt to be disregarded unless found abundantly in subjects of true miliary 

 tubercle when we often consider them as proof that the disease has become 

 disseminated through the entire organism. With these exceptions, and 

 also the occurrence of numerous vascular, subcutaneous lymphatics 

 (called " beans" by the butcher boys), the cattle showed no disease, but, 

 on the other hand, compared favorably with some Western steers which 

 were slaughtered at the same time. The veterinary above mentioned 

 called my attentioii to the comparative absence of these "beans" and 

 small, yellowish-whitebodiesin the Western grain -fed stock and attributed 

 their frequent or almost universal occurrence in Eastern cattle to some- 

 thing in the food or pasture grounds or water used by our cattle. This 

 has set me to thinking whether there may not be some filaria or other intes- 

 tinal parasite which causes such spurious cyst-like formations. But while 

 waiting for opportunity to investigate this more closely, a gentleman ob- 

 served to me that some gypsy boys whom he had played with in his youth 

 had shown him a bottle which they said contained a poison prepared from 

 mouldy hay, capable of producing sickness of a lingering, wasting charac- 

 ter, terminating in death — like consumption in general character. Imme- 

 diately the idea occurred to me that we 7nny find in this direction the true 

 nature and mode of action and dissemination of tubercle in tlie human fam- 

 ily. The extent of its association with the " bacillus tuberculosis " has led 

 most observers to consider the latter as standing in causal relation to the 



PROC. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XXXIII. 144. T. PRINTED MARCH 31, 1894. 



