134 THE COMMON SENSE OP THE MILK QUESTION 



in cow's milk, and the fact that they are sometimes 

 found in the digestive tract of young infants, point 

 to a direct connection between the use of cow's milk 

 as food and the spread of consumption. 



The seriousness of this danger is apparent, once 

 the foregoing conclusions are reached. Few persons, 

 I suppose, outside of a very limited circle of spe- 

 cialists, have any idea of the prevalence of tuber- 

 culosis among cattle. Some of the statistics upon 

 this point are terrible in their significance and menace. 

 It is not necessary for us to make any elaborate 

 survey of these statistics ; a few figures, taken almost 

 at random, will probably be quite sufficient for our 

 present purpose. In the state of New Jersey, during 

 the last ten years, particular attention has been 

 given to this subject, though it is admitted upon all 

 hands, even by the farmers themselves, that the 

 inspection is by no means perfect as yet. The tuber- 

 culin test is used, except where the condition of the 

 animal is such as to make that test tmnecessary, 

 and from statistics issued by the New Jersey Tuber- 

 culosis Commission it appears that something like 

 16 per cent of the cattle examined have been 

 found to be suffering from tuberculosis. The fol- 

 lowing table tells its own story, and needs no 

 comment : — 



