404 
W. H. HARBAUGH. 
Great Britain in 1890 appointed a Royal Commission to in¬ 
quire and report the effect on human health of food derived from 
tuberculous animals. The commission reported on April 10,1895) 
after devoting nearly five years and spending $90,000 in the in¬ 
vestigation of this question. The report of this commission 
fully confirms the work done by other investigators, to the effect 
that food derived from tuberculous animals is dangerous and 
liable to produce the disease. The report says : “ No doubt the 
largest part of the tuberculosis which man obtains through his 
food is by means of milk containing tuberculous matter. 
Dr. Martin, writing for the commission, says : “ The milk of 
cows with tuberculosis of the udder possesses a virulence which 
can only be described as extraordinary. All the animals inocu¬ 
lated showed tuberculosis in its most rapid form.” Dr. Martin 
and Dr. Woodhead “ had occasion to use milk from a cow that 
had tuberculous disease in one-quarter only of the udder, and 
they found the milk from the other three-quarters to be perfectly 
harmless on inoculation; but the mixed milk taken from the 
four teats was to all appearance just as virulent as the milk from 
the diseased quarter. Butter, skimmilk, buttermilk, obtained 
from the milk of a cow having tuberculous udder, all contained 
tuberculous matter actively injurious to test animals. This 
fact shows the extreme danger of using milk from cattle not 
proven to be positively free from the disease. One or two cows 
in a dairy may contaminate the milk from the whole herd sim¬ 
ply by mixing the milk from the different animals. “ Both Dr. 
Martin and Dr. Woodhead insist that no tuberculous animal of 
any kind should be allowed to remain in a dairy.” 
Up to a recent period the opinion prevailed that it was only 
milk from cows with tuberculous udders that was extremely 
dangerous, but the experiments of Prof. Ernst, of Harvard Uni¬ 
versity, and many others, have demonstrated the fact that milk 
from a tuberculous cow may contain the germs, even though 
the udder is absolutely free from the disease. 
« In the case of milk, the Royal Commission were of the 
opinion that nothing short of boiling would destroy the con- 
