Its relation to Consumption in Man. 
311 
munity, still, cases are not altogether unknown among dogs and 
cats. 
It may be inferred from what has already been stated that 
there is in many cases great difficulty in deciding whether an 
animal is the subject of tuberculosis or not. Animals — cattle in 
particular — may have tubercular deposits in their lungs and 
other organs, and still manifest all the appearances of perfect 
health. Butchers are now well aware of this, and in some legal 
proceedings instituted recently where tubercular carcasses were 
seized and destroyed, the purchasers produced proof that they 
bought the cattle as sound animals, and paid a price which they 
would only have given on condition, or in the belief, that they 
were healthy. They also show r ed that, as the beasts were in fine 
condition, they had no means of knowing that the disease 
existed until after slaughter, when the internal organs were 
examined and the carcasses seized. In other cases tuberculosis 
is marked by well-defined symptoms in its progress. These are, 
a cough which at first may not attract the owner's attention 
until the breathing becomes altered in character and laboured. 
Accompanying this cough, there is always a general unthrifty 
appearance, gradual emaciation (wasting), and an irregular or 
capricious appetite. There may sometimes be external mani- 
festations of the disease visible, such as enlargement of the 
glands in the region ot the throat, and, in the case of milch 
cows, hard nodular deposits may, in advanced cases, be found in 
the udder. 
It has been suggested, to settle the question of the existence 
of tubercle in any particular animal while alive, that the mucus 
from the bronchial tubes collected from the back of the throat 
should be examined microscopically for tubercle bacilli. Also 
that the milk of cows suspected should be similarly examined, 
more especially if any nodules could be felt in the udder. Such 
examinations, when they reveal the existence of the bacilli, are 
no doubt conclusive ; but in the majority of cases the absence of 
the bacillus in the specimens examined cannot be taken as proof 
that the disease does not exist. Thus, to settle the question, 
a post-mortem examination is absolutely necessary, and before 
the inquiry is completed a microscopic examination of the 
diseased organs may also be required. 
The extent to which tuberculosis prevails among cattle in 
this country is unknown, as no attempt has hitherto been made 
to obtain reliable statistics. In large towns where there are 
public slaughter-houses, a record is kept of all carcasses seized 
and condemned as unfit for human food ; but as every tuberculous 
carcass is not condemned the abattoir records are very imperfect 
