38 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol,. YL, No. 127 



ANIMAL DISEASES AND PUBLIC 

 HEALTH. 



The object of this book is to introduce to 

 the people of this country ' the higher pur- 

 poses of veterinary medicine.' These higher 

 purposes are the better protection of the public 

 health, and the mitigation of certain evils re- 

 lating to our food-suppl3\ 



The amount of capital invested in live-stock 

 is enormous, and the animal product a most 

 important part of our national resources. The 

 better protection of this property from disease 

 is discussed in the third part of the book. 

 Writers have usually treated this material or 

 pecuniary side as the more important aim of 

 veterinary medicine : it is here, however, dis- 

 cussed as secondary to that of public sanitation. 

 In part second the author gives an excellent 

 historj^ of veterinar}^ medicine, and of vet- 

 erinary schools in Europe, along with much 

 information not easily accessible elsewhere. 



This age of steam has in many ways stimu- 

 lated the production of live-stock ; and the 

 relative proportion of animal to vegetable food 

 has of late years been rapidly growing. This 

 is in part due to the fact that the art of stock- 

 breeding has greatl}' advanced, and in part to 

 the modern facilities for the preservation and 

 transportation of animals or their products. 

 While this is, as a whole, doubtless a benefit to 

 mankind, it has at the same time enormousl}' 

 increased certain dangers to public health. 

 Old dangers have increased, and new ones been 

 introduced that our fathers knew nothing of. 

 Moreover, modern scientific investigation has 

 traced to our domestic animals certain diseases 

 of man the origin of which has heretofore 

 been a myster}' ; and we now know that the 

 public health is related to that of our domestic 

 animals in more wa^^s than the public yet ap- 

 preciate. 



Dr. Billings has therefore an important 

 theme, and he tells his readers ' not to forget 

 that the author is an enthusiast ; ' and we will 

 add, that, like man}^ enthusiasts, he advocates 

 measures for the details of which, even if prac- 

 ticable, the public are b}^ no means yet ready. 

 Indeed, like the public, the author himself de- 

 votes the most attention to some of those dan- 

 gers which are b}' no means the greatest, if we 

 measure their results b}^ mortuary statistics. 



That the flesh of obviousl}^ diseased animals 

 is unwholesome food for man, has been the 

 common belief for ages ; and communities that 

 have any public markets at all have generally 



The relation of anini,al diseases to the public health, and 

 their prevention. By Frank S. Billings, D.V.S. New York, 

 1884. 



placed legal restraints on its sale. In most 

 civilized countries, there are severe penalties 

 for selUng diseased flesh of certain kinds ; but 

 in our country the administration of sanitar}' 

 laws in this direction is very defective, and the 

 methods \erj fault3\ In some directions there 

 is, as yet, no oflScial or organized effort to meet 

 dangers the existence of which is reasonably 

 well demonstrated. 



We may say, in a general way, that the health 

 of the people is directl}^ related to that of their 

 domestic animals in at least five ways. In the 

 first place, some of their contagious diseases 

 are directly transmissible to us, and are ver}' 

 fatal ; and to this class belong some of the 

 most dreaded of diseases. For example : in 

 proportion to the relative number of its vic- 

 tims, hydrophobia inspires more terror than 

 any other disease known to us, and greater 

 exertions are made against it than against any 

 other one disease which slays so small a pro- 

 portion of the population. This, in man, comes 

 only from animals. In the same category we 

 ma}^ place anthrax and glanders, both ver}" 

 fatal. The foot-and-mouth disease of cattle, 

 transmitted to man through the milk of dis- 

 eased cows, is less fatal, perhaps, but still too 

 troublesome, and unfortunatel}^ too common, 

 to ignore, and others of less note are well 

 known. The mortahty in an}' communit}^, due 

 directly to this class of diseases, is relatively 

 small ; yet there is a positive danger, against 

 which we have as 3'et inadequate protection, 

 and where we especially need intelligent official 

 action founded on proper veterinary authority-. 



Closely related to this is a class of diseases 

 less contagious, and where the direct transmis- 

 sion to man does not so commonly follow ex- 

 posure, or where, at least, the demonstration 

 is as yet incomplete ; where we can sa}' that 

 the public health may, and probably does, suf- 

 fer, but where the proof is lacking, and the 

 extent of the danger very uncertain. Such is 

 the case with tuberculosis. That tuberculosis 

 of cattle is very common in the old world, that 

 it is less common here but is increasing, all 

 who have studied it believe. That tubercu- 

 losis in man is in a degree transmissible, is, 

 we think, now generally conceded ; and that 

 tuberculosis in cattle may be transmitted 

 to other animals through the milk of tubercu- 

 lous cows is proved. That it is transmitted 

 from cattle to man through milk is not proved, 

 but the analogies are most suspicious, and have 

 of late attracted much attention. The author 

 gives an excellent histor}^ of the investigation 

 in Germany, and gives suggestive statistics of 

 the extent of the disease among European cattle. 



