HUMAN AND BOYINE TUBERCULOSIS. 
695 
law. We know from other historical facts that cattle can be 
raised without this great danger, because Hirsch and others 
tell us that in the Hebrides,* * * § the Highlands of Scotland, and 
North Wales consumption is remarkably rare. The rarity of 
the disease in these localities is accounted for by Darwin’s 
observations while he was studying the conditions of cattle 
under domestication. He says : “ so with the mountain cattle 
of North Wales and the Hebrides it has been found that they 
could not withstand being crossed with the larger and more 
delicate lowland breeds. Our improved heavy breeds of cattle 
could not have been formed on mountainous pastures.” Now, 
any one who has paid much attention to the history of cattle 
breeding knows that the improved races, as we understand 
them, are the result of the closest inbreeding. The rarity of 
the disease in mountainous countries also explains the follow¬ 
ing quotation from Hirsch : “ Few countries of Europe enjoy, 
on the whole, so favorable conditions as Switzerland in respect 
to the infrequency of consumption, the figures for the entire 
country, according to Muller, being 1.86 in a thousand. In 
studying, however, the statistics of the different cantons, we 
find the mortality ranging from 3.57 to only 0.81. We know 
that there are localities in this mountainous country where 
Darwin’s observations respecting mountain breeds would ex¬ 
plain this condition of facts. The number of cattle in Switzer¬ 
land is 1,210,849, an d the population 2,906,750, or one animal 
to inhabitants. Of course, too, there are regions of Switz¬ 
erland where only the goat can range. We find from the 
official returnsf of 1866 that there were 375,482 of these ani¬ 
mals in that country, and we know, from the reports of travel¬ 
ers,^: that the milk from the goat is used exclusively in some 
localities. 
Having considered the conditions of some barbarous and 
some civilized communities, let us look at the semi-civilized 
tribes of Madagascar. Both Hirsch and Evans,§ quoting 
* MacCormac, “ Brit. Med. Jour.,” 1868, ii, p. 571. 
t Simmonds, “Animal Products,” p. 56. 
X Prime, “ Letters from Switzerland,” p. 44. 
§ Hirsch, op. cit. } vol. iii. p. 186. 
