A. F. BRUStr.. 
692 
milk is carried to town in skins, on the backs of asses, but, 
from the agitation it undergoes, on its arrival most of the 
families in the city prefer using the milk of the goats, herds 
of which are kept in the vicinity, and daily driven into town 
and milked at the door of the customers.” Dr. Webster adds : 
“ Although the climate of St. Michael cannot be safely rec¬ 
ommended to a consumptive patient, it is, nevertheless, rare 
to see the disease in a native.” 
Dr. Webster would not have been astonished at this con¬ 
dition of affairs had he realized the truth that phthisis is a 
disease acquired from the bovine race, for it is a fact that the 
only people on the face of the globe who enjoy an absolute 
immunity from phthisis are those who are not in possession 
of the domestic cow. Take, for instance, the Kirghiz on the 
steppes of Russia; these people consume large quantities of 
mare’s milk and eat the flesh of horses and sheep, but they 
have no cows. According to Dr. Neftel and other authority, 
a case of phthisis among these people was never known. * 
Likewise, the Esquimaux also enjoy immunity, because 
they have domesticated the reindeer, not the cow. 
But this allusion to the Esquimaux does not apply to those 
who inhabit Greenland and that part of the Danish dominions 
in the Arctic region. There are Esquimaux that know not 
the cow, and there are Esquimaux who have domesticated 
the cow. So there are authorities that state that the Esqui¬ 
maux are exempt from phthisis, and other authorities equally 
as positively state that “ consumption is common” f among 
them. Thus, in the Government list of mortality for th e 
Province of Julianshaab, “ forty-six persons died (out of a pop¬ 
ulation of 4,115 Esquimaux and mixed breeds) of diseases of 
the chest, which include phthisis, pneumonia, bronchitis, 
pleuritis, etc.” J 
This prevalence of tuberculosis is perfectly explained by 
the facts given in Dr. Hayes’ book, “ The Land of Desola¬ 
tion.” § He writes in his visit to Julianshaab : “ Around the 
* Maydell, quoted by Williams. 
t Williams, “ Influence of Climate in Pulmonary Consumption,” p. 17. 
t Ibid., p. 16. 
§ Dr. Hayes, “Land of Desolation,” p. 36. 
