ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 301 



diseases, and that he had amply demonstrated cattle could not be infected 

 with human tuberculosis. The counter proposition that human beings, 

 were not liable to infection from bovine tuberculosis was hard to prove, 

 the doctor said, owing to the difficulty of experimenting upon human sub- 

 jects, but personally he was satisfied such was the case. 



"After reciting at length post mortem evidence supporting this belief,. 

 Dr. Koch siaid if this point v»^ere c onceded, it remained to determine the 

 chief sourse of contagion. He said human imm.unity to bovine infection 

 disposed of the belief of infection through dairy products, and he con- 

 sidered this source of danger so slight as to be unworthy of precautionary 

 measures. 



"Heredity was also an important factor in the transmission of tuber- 

 culosis, in hist opinion, though the contrary had long been believed. Dr. 

 Koch said the chief danger of contagion lay in the sputum of consump- 

 tive patients and that a remedy was to be found in a law preventing the 

 consumptive from strewing contagion about him. 



"Several methods to this end were available, said the doctor, the 

 surest of which being that of isolation in sanitariums. This, unfortun- 

 ately, was impracticable, but he strongly urged the establishment of 

 special consumptive hospitals an d the obligatory notification of the au- 

 thorities of the existence of the disease, the disinfection of their quarters 

 whenever consumptives changed their residence, and the dissemination of 

 information of the people concerning the true nature of consumption to 

 aid in avoiding and combating it. 



"Dr. Koch highly complimented Dr. Hermann M. Briggs (pathologist 

 and director of the bacteriologica 1 labors of the New York City Health 

 Department) upon the representative measures concerning tuberculosis 

 taken in New York City, where, h e said, the mortality from tuberculosis 

 had been reduced 35 per cent since 1896. He recommended the system 

 organzed by Dr. Briggsi in New York to the study and imitation of all 

 municipalities. 



"Dr. Koch closed his remarks by expressing his belief that the ulti- 

 mate stamping out of tuberculosis was possible." 



