684 
HAROLD E. STEARNS. 
perfect themselves in this mode of diagnosis and also of exercis¬ 
ing their function of educators by instructing the dairymen of 
the importance of interior stable construction susceptible of dis¬ 
infection, which many of the old barns are not. 
It is known that a multitude of diseases of animals are com¬ 
municable to man, that many of them, if not promptly controlled, 
while not necessarily causing death, would seriously affect hu¬ 
man health, and that one, alt least, tuberculosis, is responsible for 
the deaths of many thousand human beings yearly. The task of 
controlling and if possible eliminating this source of human in¬ 
fection, rests principally with the veterinary profession. All 
other things excluded, the successful accomplishment of this duty 
would justify its existence. 
The rapid increase of this disease among animals, the wide 
diversity of opinion as to the methods of control which should be 
pursued, the adoption and subsequent abandonment, as imprac¬ 
ticable, of various systems of eradication, all indicate the magni¬ 
tude and difficulties of the problem, and learning from the ex¬ 
perience of the medical profession, in its efforts to control human 
tuberculosis, it is safe to conclude that the subject must be ap¬ 
proached from many different standpoints, giving opportunity 
for the intelligent co-operation of the veterinarian, the farmer, 
the consumer, and the commonwealth. It has been said that pub¬ 
lic health is purchasable ; this is especially true of public health 
as influenced by animal disease. The willingness of the con¬ 
sumer to pay the additional price of milk from tuberculin-tested 
herds, and of the commonwealth to liberally share with the 
farmer the losses entailed in eliminating the reactors, will have 
much to do with its ultimate control. 
The opinions of prominent investigators expressed at the Sev¬ 
enth International Tuberculosis Congress, held in Paris this 
spring and transcribed from the pages of the American Vet¬ 
erinary Review, indicate that bovine tuberculosis is transmis¬ 
sible to man, especially children ; that about io per cent, of the 
cases of human tuberculosis proceed from an infection by bovine 
tuberculosis ; that while the majority of cases of human tubercu- 
