IT. S. VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 495 
opinion was. He said it was not established that they were con¬ 
tagions diseases. He said there was a theory advanced that they 
were but it was not generally accepted in the medical profession 
that they were. If the veterinary profession is going to place it¬ 
self on record as saying that that fact is established, that they are 
contagious diseases—I believe there is some doubt whether tuber¬ 
culosis is a disease or not—but in the other, there are some dis¬ 
eases transmissible from animal to animal and to mankind. This 
is a wide subject and any attempt at securing legislation, it seems 
to me, would be more properly attempted when supported by the 
Board of Health after we have reached that point. It may be 
that the veterinarian has better fields for observation, but for my 
own part I have always looked at the medical profession as one of 
the sources from which we can gather information in that direc¬ 
tion. 
Dr. Schwartzkopff: These remarks are very interesting; but I 
think this is one of the most profitable fields of work for the vet¬ 
erinarian. 
As to the question of actimonycosis, as I said before, theoreti¬ 
cally it is not contagious. Some time ago there was a dispute go¬ 
ing on and I expressed my views, which I am sorry were contrary 
to the belief of most of you in this country. Personally I like to 
go where you go, I do not want to put myself on record as opposed 
to you or your ideas, but when I am forced to do so I must be 
candid and say I do not believe it is contagious, and I base my 
opinion on my own experience as well as my theoretical studies in 
handling cattle, in the Berlin slaughter houses. As long as you 
are dealing with the living animal it will always be difficult to de¬ 
cide some of these questions. The only way it can be done in 
many cases is by post-mortem, to determine whether the meat is 
fit for human food or not. There may be some cases in which 
the meat of the animals would be dangerous and in others where 
it is not. This is a question of importance and you can be sure 
that you will be compelled in the next few years to form your 
opinion on this matter. 
Dr. Salmon: This is a question I am considerably interested in 
and I am glad it has come up. I only wish the Association would 
