568 
SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
Dr. Bryden said there was no question now about the influence of heredity 
or contagion in this disease, and the important question is, at what stage is the 
animal unfit for sustenance by the flesh or milk ? 
Dr. Winchester said the Paris congress had shown that it was possible to re*- 
produce the disease from any stage. 
Dr. Osgood detailed an experience in the western part of the State, where a 
whole herd was destroyed affected with this disease. The stables remained 
empty for more than a year, at the end of which time six Jerseys were brought 
into them directly from Europe, having been thoroughly examined before ship¬ 
ment by a competent man. Tuberculosis was again set up, and the whole herd 
was finally destroyed. Dr. Osgood said further, that he believed that with this 
disease, as with glanders in horses, the only way to get rid of it was to burn the 
buildings in which it had been in addition to destroying the animals. 
Dr. Winchester said that one thing about this germ, it requires a certain 
temperature for development, and we do not know in how low a temperature it 
will retain its activity, and whether or not freezing will destroy it. 
i Dr. Stickney said the magnitude of this disease is not astonishing when we 
consider that we have been importing it for thirty-five years. We have developed 
by breeding the desirable qualities of the animals and why not this disease, as 
vices are more often reproduced than virtues. 
Dr. Osgood said that when the public comes to recognize this disease as con¬ 
tagious, we may then have a law to aid us in controlling it or getting rid of it. 
Dr. Bryden raised the question, whether or not exposure alone would pro¬ 
duce this disease. 
Dr. Winchester said, that we must have the germ from somewhere; priva¬ 
tion or exposure alone would not produce it. He related that in a section of a 
certain town in his vicinity, most all of the deaths of people were at about twenty 
years of age from consumption. The people live huddled together, no ventila¬ 
tion or other sanitary conditions present, but the disease is produced by conta¬ 
gion ; it is in those houses. 
Dr. Bryden said he thought excess of nutrition might be a predisposing 
cause also, and one reared in luxury be very likely to contract the disease. 
Dr. Winchester said that in regard to the condition of animals in which it is 
present, he had seen as handsome an animal as could be found in Brighton, 
taken home, killed, and found to be rotten with tuberculosis. In loss of lung 
substance we often have an increase of fat, that is, up to a certain point, and then 
they will go down the scale very fast. Another fact in regard to this disease is, 
that where it is prevalent we generally find that the animals are kept for a certain 
purpose, and pushed for it, and are often found confined in low studded stables. 
This disease will lie latent for generations also, and then crop out. 
At the conclusion of the discussion, a unanimous vote of thanks was tendered 
the essayist, Dr. Winchester. It was also unanimously voted that the Associa¬ 
tion request Dr. Winchester to read this paper at the meeting of the United 
States Veterinary Medical Association to be held in March. 
Application for membership was received from Myron Chapin, D.V.S., of 
Springfield. 
L. H. Howakd, Secretary . 
