SOCIETY MEETINGS. 
757 
So far as has come under my notice there has only been the usual advance in 
the progress of the art during the last year. There has been nothing of so sig¬ 
nal a character as the introduction into the medical realm of so beneficent a fac¬ 
tor for man’s good as that brought forward by Prof. Koch in the form of his 
inoculous lymph, and which is thought to be, and I sincerely hope will prove to 
be, a specific for tuberculosis in man. Prof. Koch has not only opened an avenue 
in the medical profession which is of vital importance, but he has opened a broad 
field to the veterinary profession for development and investigation. If the 
ravages of this disease can be abated and eventually cured in man, it is only 
reasonable to suppose that the same results could be obtained in the lower animals. 
It is a question beyond any doubt that tuberculosis is transmissible not only 
from one animal to another, but from the lower animals to the human family. 
And this contagion is carried either in rare cooked meat, in milk or through the 
air, and any one animal can contribute through all of these channels. It has al¬ 
ways seemed to me that to order the destruction of an animal because it is suffer¬ 
ing from a contagious disease is an acknowledgment of an imbecile profession 
and a menace to the function of the art. 
It would seem, and I am glad that there is an appearance now presenting it¬ 
self to the profession, that if so baneful and prevalent a disease as tuberculosis in 
the lower animals can (in its incipiency) be abated, if not cured, and thus render 
the ox serviceable, not only as a beast of burden, but as a wholesome article of 
diet. The products of our labor are two-fold ; we are not only expected to relieve 
and palliate the pains and sufferings of the animals, but to restore them to per¬ 
fect usefulness. And it is only in this last degree that society looks upon our 
labor as a success. Thus, though the phenomenal advance made by Prof. Koch 
in his being able to control and seemingly handle at will so noxious a disease as 
tuberculosis in man, why cannot we, when this inoculous lymph can be procured 
in sufficient quantities, operate upon the lower animals, because the same degree 
of merit must exist in the animal economy as in human flesh, so far as its effects 
is concerned in destroying the bacilli? At least Prof. Koch found the disease 
easily succumbing while experimenting upon animals. These suggestions may 
seem to some visionary and unwarrantable, but if I understand the function of 
our science, it is to cure diseases, and not to destroy the animal because it is suf¬ 
fering with disease. At least to the energetic and inspiring surgeon the field for 
labor is very broad, especially if we stop to consider the millions of money that 
is invested in live stock in our State. In 1880 the total number of live stock in 
our State amounted to5,806,808, and were divided as follows: horses, 1,000,000; 
cattle, 2,839,721; sheep, 1,715,180; swine, 751,907; also mules not mentioned 
in the total, which number 5,000. 
At a moderate estimate we had in 1880 : $50,000,000 worth of horses, $28,- 
079,652 worth of cattle, $6,003, 130 worth of sheep, and $4,511,442 worth of 
swine. 
It is safe to say that we have in the State $100,000,000 worth of native-bred 
stock, to say nothing about the fancy-bred horses and cattle, which number many 
thousands and are worth many millions of dollars. 
It is the enormous wealth in live stock that inspires me to devote my every 
energy in searching among and finding the hidden facts in the mysteries of our 
