June 1895.] 



PARLIAMENTARY PUBLICATIONS. 



89 



conducted on behalf of the Commission, together with their own 



conclusions, as follows : — 



" We have obtained ample evidence that food derived from 

 tuberculous animals can produce tuberculosis in healthy 

 animals. The proportion of animals contracting tuber- 

 culosis after experimental use of such food is difterent in 

 one and another class of animals ; both carnivora and 

 herbivora are susceptible, and the proportion is high in 

 pigs. In the absence of direct experiments on human 

 subjects, we infer that man also can acquire tuberculosis 

 by feeding upon materials derived from tuberculous food- 

 animals." 



"The actual amount of tuberculous disease among certain 

 classes of food-animals is so large as to afford to man 

 frequent occasions for contracting tuberculous disease 

 through his food. As to the proportion of tuberculosis 

 acquired by man through his food or through other means, 

 we can form no definite opinion, but we think it probable 

 that an appreciable part of the tuberculosis that affects 

 man is obtained through his food." 



The circumstances and conditions with regard to the tuber- 

 culosis in the food-animal which lead to the production of 

 tuberculosis in man are, ultimately, the presence of active 

 tuberculous matter in the food taken from the animal 

 and consumed by the man in a raw or insufficiently cooked 

 state." 



"Tuberculous disease is observed most frequently in cattle and 

 in swine. It is found far more frequently in cattle (full 

 grown) than in calves, and with much greater frequency 

 in cows kept in town cow-houses than in cattle bred for the 

 express purpose of slaughter. Tuberculous matter is but 

 seldom found in the meat substance of the carcase, it is 

 principally^ found in tbe organs, membranes, and glands. 

 There is reason to believe that tuberculous matter, when 

 present in meat sold to the public, is more commonly due 

 to the contamination of the surface of the meat with 

 material derived from other diseased parts than to disease 

 of the meat itself. The same matter is found in the milk 

 of cows when the udder has become invaded by tuberculous 

 disease, and seldom or never when the udder is not diseased. 

 Tuberculous matter in milk is exceptionally active in its 

 operation upon animals fed either with the milk or with 

 dairy produce derived from it. No doubt the largest part 

 of the tuberculosis which man obtains through his food is 

 by means of milk containing tuberculous matter." 



" The recognition of tuberculous disease during the life of an 

 animal is not wholly unattended with difficulty. Happily, 

 however, it can, in most cases, be detected with certainty in 

 the udders of milch cows." 



