PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 19 



of the human subject being infected from boviue 

 sources were so small as to be negligable. This 

 was so contrary to what we hitherto believed that it 

 at ouce was seized upon by those who had financial interests 

 at stake, to urge upon sanitary authorities the impropriety 

 and injustice of destroying animals and meat affected by 

 tuberculosis. Nor did this State escape the influence of 

 Koch's pronouncement, though the Board of Health con- 

 tinued to act as it had always done — requiring the destruc- 

 tion of such animals and meat. 



The Report of the Royal Commission now amply vindi- 

 cates our opinion and practice, and that after one of the 

 most exhaustive, careful aad conclusive investigations of a 

 difficult subject ever undertaken. We may indeed say it 

 is the last word on the subject. Two interim reports have 

 been published, and a third will come out on the tubercu- 

 losis of pigs. "There can be no doubt but that in a certain 

 number of cases the tuberculosis occurring in the human 

 subject, especially in children, is the direct result of the 

 introduction into the human body of the bacillus of bovine 

 tuberculosis ; and there also can be no doubt that in the 

 majority at least of these cases, the bacillus is introduced 

 through cow's milk. Cow's milk containing bovine tubercle 

 bacilli is clearly a cause of tuberculosis and of fatal tuber- 

 culosis in man." " Of the total 60 cases investigated by 

 us, 28 possessed clinical histories indicating that in them 

 the bacillus was introduced through the alimentary canal. 

 Of these, 13 contained the bovine bacillus." These facts 

 indicate that a very large proportion of tuberculosis con- 

 tracted by ingestion is due to bacilli of bovine source. "A 

 very considerable amount of disease and loss of life, especi- 

 ally among the young, must be attributed to the consump- 

 tion of cow's milk containing tubercle bacilli. Tiie presence 

 of tubercle in cow's milk can be detected, though with some 



