TUBERCULOSIS. 



395 



one of the posterior teats. The rabbit wa.s placed in a separate 

 hutch, and death from general tuberculosis occurred ninety- two days 

 after inoculation. 



The diaphragm and mesentery were studded with tubercles the 

 size of a pin's head. The kidneys superficially showed whitish 

 rounded nodules projecting above the surface. These were found 

 on section to be continuous, with wedge-shaped deposits in the sub- 

 stance of the kidney. The lungs presented a very striking appear- 

 ance, being, in short, a mass of tubercular deposit; and the bronchial 

 and tracheal glands were similarly affected. In sections of the 

 kidney and lung the bacilli were present, but they were distributed 

 irregularly ; in one part of a section it was difficult to detect a 

 single bacillus, in other parts they were present in large numbers. 



The milk from the two cows, 

 previously to their coming under 

 observation, had been mixed with 

 the general supply of a dairy. There 

 is indeed ample evidence that, both 

 in this and in other countries, the 

 milk of tuberculous animals finds its 

 way into the market. The question 

 which naturally arises is the possi- 

 bility of any manifestation of tuber- 

 culosis in man, arising from the 

 consumption of unboiled milk con- 

 taining tubercle bacilli. We must 

 admit that there is no direct 

 evidence of the transmission of 

 tuberculosis by milk from cow to 

 man ; but this may arise from the difficulty in tracing such a 

 source of infection, owing to the long time which elapses before 

 symptoms manifest themselves in man. Yet, if milk be a source of 

 infection, we should naturally expect that primary tuberculosis of the 

 intestine would be by no means an uncommon manifestation of the 

 disease; and this in the adult is not in accordance with clinical 

 experience. Such an argument would tend to contra -indicate 

 danger to adults ; but, on the other hand, the possible danger to 

 children has been rightly insisted upon by the earliest writers on 

 this subject. Woodhead has recently stated that, from his experi- 

 ence in two large hospitals, he has been much struck by the fact 

 that, in children who had died from other diseases during the course 

 of tubercular disease of the abdominal gland.-i, there was frequently 



Fig. 173.— Tubekculab XJlceka- 

 tion of the intestine of a 

 Rabbit. 



