HUMAN AND BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS. 
337 
mentation. I had no idea that the eggs would not mature, or 
I should have placed with them under the same hens eggs from 
healthy birds; there was no appreciable cause in the surroun¬ 
dings or other conditions to prevent the hatching except the 
before-mentioned tubercular condition of the layers. I shall 
repeat this experiment, using eggs from healthy birds with 
those from tuberculous layers. 
Without knowing that the fact is so, I have been looking 
up statistics of zoological gardens, and find that tuberculous 
animals fail to breed while in confinement. Of course we have 
no means of knowing how they behave themselves in their 
wild state, bnt I feel pretty safe in asserting that no one ever 
found a wild animal with tuberculosis. Darwin s statement 
while writing on inheritance—“that, unfortunately, it matters 
not, as far as inheritance is concerned, how injurious a quality 
01 structure may be if compatible with life”—only applies to 
the human race and animals which the human race is instru¬ 
mental in breeding. To such animals, bred by the human 
race, Darwin applies the term artificial. We all know that in 
cattle one that is injured or unable to follow the herd is killed 
by the herd, and bulls in their wild state only maintain their 
supremacy by their vigor. The moment the head of a herd 
suffers from age or disease he is put away by the next strongest, 
and thus the vigor of the herd is preserved by this law of the 
survival of the fittest. 
Man cannot genet ate new forms, but he can so control 
and interfere with nature’s processes as to modify the original 
design. Inbred cattle are selected, sheltered, and pampered, 
as they would be unable to withstand the rigorous conditions 
of the wild state: they propagate earlier and are larger 
milkers and more efficient beef-producers, and their meat is 
more delicate and tender than that of the wild animal. All 
this is achieved by man at the expense of his own health. 
The Southern Veterinary Society, with Dr. E. R. 
Forbes, of Chattanooga, Tenn., as President, comes into exist¬ 
ence at an opportune time, stepping forward into the ranks 
of scientitic work when our whole country is alive and glow¬ 
ing with promise. 
