102 THE MILK QUESTION 



nine of unknown age) were known to use milk or milk 

 products, such as butter, buttermilk, sour milk, and 

 cheese, which came from cows having undoubted tuber- 

 culosis of the udder. Of these three hundred and sixty 

 persons, two were shown, by actual animal experimentation, 

 to have infections with the bovine tubercle bacillus. Both 

 positive cases were children with tuberculous neck glands. 

 Six other children and one adult had glandular swellings in 

 the neck, and in four other children and one adult there 

 was a strong suspicion on the part of the attending phy- 

 sician that abdominal tuberculosis was present. 



In another series of three hundred and sixty persons, 

 twelve children and one adult had swellings of the lymph 

 glands of the neck. In this group the diagnosis was not 

 confirmed bacteriologically. 



Weber concludes from these studies that the danger 

 which man imdergoes through the consumption of un- 

 cooked milk and milk products of cows having tuberculosis 

 of the udder is similar to the danger which persons having 

 well-marked pulmonary tuberculosis exhibit for their 

 fellow men, although very much less. He believes it is fair 

 to assume, from the statistics presented above, that the 

 danger from drinking uncooked milk or using milk pro- 

 ducts of cows with tuberculous udders is surprisingly small. 



It will take many years and patient observation to in- 

 terpret these results. Meanwhile it is safe to assume, with 

 the evidence before us, that no one would willingly drink 

 milk or partake of fresh milk products known to contain 

 tubercle bacilli — much less permit babies to use such 

 stuff as food. 



In rare instances butchers, pathologists, and others con- 

 tract bovine tuberculosis, especially of the hands, by in- 

 fecting themselves through wounds of the skin. 



The prevalence of tuberculosis among dairy herds. In 

 general, it may be stated that tuberculosis is about as pre- 

 valent in milch cows as it is in man. The distribution also 



