HUMAN AND BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS. 
333 
in his hist observations. We find this taking place in Australia. 
Algiers and Greenland. In India this vacillating expression 
of doubt is easily accounted for. When the English first oc¬ 
cupied the country, the only cow they had was the small Hin 
doo variety, not related to our dairy cow, and this animal 
was and is an object of veneration, and the milk used in the 
country was derived from the buffalo. All the Buddhists and 
many of the Brahmin castes abstain from the use of meat in 
any form. Ansell, an early writer, says: “It appears that 
tuberculosis is correspondingly non-existent in certain locali¬ 
ties in India.’ Now, there is a constant change always taking 
place in such a country as India. Prejudices are dying out 
and many of the people have undoubtedly adopted the habits 
of their conquerors. The English dairy cow is slowlv but 
surely finding her way into India, or as Mair, a deputy coro¬ 
ner of Madras, says: “ Beef is not at all times procurable, but 
is generally sold about once a week in every station where 
there is a sufficient number of Europeans to render the 
slaughter of an animal worth the butcher’s while, for little 
beef is used among the natives. Occasionally the slaughter of 
a fine English stall-fed cow is advertised. In some districts 
the sale of beef is prohibited by law, out of respect for caste 
piejudices. Butter is an article difficult to procure of o- 0 od 
quality, except on the hills, where it is sold by European set¬ 
tlers, who make dairy-keeping contribute to their support. 
The native tendency is to palm off buffalo butter for that 
made of cow’s milk.” There is little doubt that when the 
English dairy system becomes well established in India, the 
statistics of phthisis will be uniform and undoubtful. Of 
course, the Buddhists and Brahmins will be the last to adopt 
the dairy cow as a food producer. 
Geographical and climatic conditions have little, then, to 
do with the prevalence of tuberculosis. There are undoubted¬ 
ly conditions of climate, habitations, etc., that favor the devel¬ 
opment of the disease, il the contagium is present; and the 
contagion, 1 think, is always derived primarily from the dairy 
cow. The Kirghiz inhabiting the steppes of Russia, one hun¬ 
dred feet below the sea-level, with a rigorous clime, intensely 
