TUBERCULOSIS. 
349 
It will doubtless be objected that our statistics are drawn 
from inspected abattoirs, and that it is a matter of public 
notoriety that the animals suspected of being affected with 
tuberculosis are kept away from these establishments. 
That is true ; but if the proportion of tuberculous subjects 
is greater among the animals slaughtered outside of the abat¬ 
toirs, it is much lower in the general bovine population. We 
have seen previously the result of the observations made in 
the Duchy of Baden. It therefore seems to us reasonable to 
hold to the mean figure of 5 per 1000. 
Let us calculate now the number of diseased subjects in 
the whole of France, admitting that the disease may be pretty 
uniformly spread over the territory. 
According to the statistics of the Minister of Agriculture, 
there were on the farms of France, on the 31st December, 1887, 
8,623,441 adult cattle. We may raise this number to 9,000,000 
for the whole of France, in including the animals kept else¬ 
where than on the farms. If we admit a proportion of 5 tu¬ 
berculous adults per 1000, we see that the number of animals 
affected with tuberculosis reaches 45,000. 
The mean value of these animals being about 300 francs, 
the amount of compensation to be paid would attain to 
9,000,000 or 6,750,000 francs, according as they were fixed at 
two-third or one-half of the price, if one succeeded in dis¬ 
covering immediately all the affected animals in order to 
compel their slaughter. 
But it ought to be remembered that this sum will neces¬ 
sarily be spread over an indefinite number of occasions, and 
that it will every year undergo a gradual reduction. 
We add some information regardingthe other countries of 
Europe. 
In England, according to Mr. Cope (Congress for the Study 
of Tuberculosis), the proportion of tuberculous cattle is from 
1 to 26 per cent, according to the locality. 
In Belgium, according to M. Van Hertsen (Congress for 
the Study of Tuberculosis), the proportion of tuberculous 
cows is about 4 per cent. 
In Holland, M. Thomassen (Congress for the Study of 
