DISEASES OF CATTLE 343 



disease breaks out in a stable, often the most thorough disinfect- 

 ing fails to stop future calves from infection. As soon as the 

 calf is dropped, the cord should be tied close to the navel and 

 the parts thoroughly wet with a twenty per cent solution of 

 carbolic acid, or better still, with a solution of the tincture of 

 iodine. Fresh milk, diluted with lime water, not to exceed one- 

 third, in which a teaspoonful of dried blood has been dissolved, 

 should be given the calf in small quantities and at frequent in- 

 tervals. The stable in which the first attack occurred should be 

 thoroughly disinfected, and to do this perhaps nothing is better 

 than corrosive sublimate; however, if this seems undesirable 

 and ordinarily disinfectants are used, they should be used strong 

 and flushed into every nook and corner of the stable. 



TUBERCULOSIS 



Perhaps no disease to which cattle are subject is more dis- 

 cussed than tuberculosis. This is due in a large measure to the 

 use of cattle to provide food for the human race. There are 

 perhaps few diseases so common among cattle as tuberculosis, 

 particularly among those animals that are kept closely confined. 



Tuberculosis is a communicable germ disease, and is, therefore, 

 preventable. The disease is caused by a small germ or bac- 

 terium known as Bacillus tuberculosis. This germ is, of course, 

 invisible to the naked eye. 



Methods of infection. — As tuberculosis is a communicable 

 germ disease, the methods of infection should receive much at- 

 tention. This can be made clear by considering from two points 

 of view: first, how the small germs escape from diseased ani- 

 mals; and second, how sound animals become infected. All 

 diseased animals possess the germ. This germ escapes when 

 the tissues it has destroyed are being discharged from the 

 body. Thus, if the lungs are affected, the animal on coughing 

 dislodges the germs, which may be forced directly out of the body 

 or lodged in the mouth, when they leave the body with the saliva. 



