BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS. 
405 
tagious principle ; and it is a well known fact that in boil- 
ing milk its constituents are so thoroughly changed that it 
is not as useful as a food, especially for infants, as that which 
has not been subjected to this great degree of heat.” (Mass. 
Cattle Com. Report.) 
Hence it is plain that the only means we have to insure a 
safe milk supply to consumers is the inspection of the source of 
the milk—the cow. The examination of the milk itself would 
be a farce, for the simple reason that the time required for micro¬ 
scopical examinations and chemical analyses of all milk sold 
would make such tests utterly impossible and impracticable. 
We need not fear intentional or criminal adulteration of milk 
by the dairyman ; he will add nothing harmful to human health ; 
it is the cow we must fear, and in order to make inspection of 
benefit to humanity, the cow should be ascertained to be free 
from tuberculosis beyond all doubt. Happily for mankind, this 
is possible and practicable, and is being done all over the world 
with perfect success. The tuberculin test applied to the cows at 
regular intervals will enable the disease to be kept out of the 
herd. People who have no experience with tuberculin may talk 
against it and argue against it, but their idle boasting, wild 
statements, and pretended knowledge do not do away with the 
fact that tuberculin is a reliable diagnostic for bovine tubercu¬ 
losis, and has been proven to be such in proper hands so invari¬ 
ably that all civilized governments, including onr own, employ 
it m their official work in connection with tuberculosis. Those 
who profess to be opposed to tuberculin often assert that they 
can produce a reaction by the injection of any or many toxines, 
they assert that they can get the same reaction with different 
chemicals, etc., but they lose sight of the fact that the reaction 
following the injection of tuberculin only occurs in an animal 
affected with tuberculosis, and no reaction occurs in an animal 
free from that disease. But what is the necessity of wasting 
words about the idle and ignorant babble of people who know 
nothing about the practical work of the tuberculin test, when it 
is only necessary to mention the fact that when animals are con- 
