130 
M. WILSON. 
fellow creatures at heart would say that food tainted with 
tubercular virus was fit for human food, or at least free from 
danger. Of course, I do not mean to say that in every case 
where tuberculosed meat is eaten that tuberculosis must nec¬ 
essarily follow, but there are so many cases of persons in a 
temporary low condition which predisposes them to infec¬ 
tious diseases, such as typhoid fever, malaria and diphtheria, 
that in some of these cases the introduction of the bacillus of 
tuberculosis might and probably would act as an exciting 
cause of the disease. It is not rare to come across a single 
member of a family in which there is no predisposition nor 
hereditary taint to this disease who becomes a tubercular 
patient through temporary weakness from other diseases, or 
a slight touch of bronchitis, or anything which might or 
might not cause an abrasion of the mucous membranes of the 
lungs or bowels, but which seems to make the body a fitting 
habitat for the introduction and propagation of the virus of 
consumption. 
In giving first importance to the danger accruing from 
the consumption of meat derived from animals affected with 
tuberculosis, the danger of communication to consumers of 
disease other than tuberculosis must not be lost sight of. 
Although tuberculosis, from its wide distribution among cat¬ 
tle, ranks among the first, there is another disease that is be¬ 
coming more and more spread, and the nature and cause of 
which we are becoming more acquainted with—that disease 
is actinomycosis. 
Since the discovery of its specific organism, the actino- 
myces or ray fungus, we are better able to discover and ap¬ 
preciate its wide distribution, and cases, which were formerly 
put down under the head of tuberculosis, are now recognized 
under the microscope by the presence of the ray fungus, and 
of course the absence of the tubercle bacillus. The fungus 
in this disease causes nodular growths, which have a tenden¬ 
cy to enlarge, suppurate and break down ; their occurrence 
being common in the tongue, by which we have enlargement 
of this organ, from its firm fibrous appearance being known 
as wooden tongue ; also on the gums, other parts of mucous 
