TRANSMISSION OF TUBERCULOSIS THROUGH MEAT AND MILK. 627 
process of removal of the tubercular organs not ordinarily used 
as food, and which are for this reason not considered here, and 
in the cutting up of the carcass, some of the food parts of the 
carcass may be smeared with material rich in tubercle bacilli. 
Such contaminated meat would, of course, be much more highly 
infectious. It is also to be noted that the muscles of swine and 
their intermuscular lymph glands are more apt to be tubercu¬ 
lous than is the case with similar bovine structures. An exam 
ination of the literature to which I have had access, indicates 
that but very little experimentation has been done to determine 
the infectiousness of those organs and tissues of tuberculous 
animals which are used for food. Much experimentation has 
been done with tissues other than food tissues, but chiefly for 
the purpose of determining the general infectiousness of the dis¬ 
ease. If these experiments with the food tissues should be ex¬ 
tended, there is no reason to doubt that they would indicate 
.hat this is a more extensive source of infection than is at pres¬ 
ent apparent. Also, none of the experiments cited, nor any 
)ther, so far as I can learn, have been made with the liver as the 
)bject fed. German slaughter house statistics 13 collected dur- 
ng 1888 and 1889, show that in all tuberculous cattle examined 
he liver showed the disease in 28 per cent, of cases. If a series 
>f experiments were made by feeding this organ, a much higher 
ate of infection would be observed. It will be noted that this 
s classed as a food organ. 
The experiments referred to nearly all have to do with the 
neat of highly tuberculous cattle. In these cases it is quite 
>robable that the tubercle bacillus was carried into the muscu- 
ar system through the blood vascular system, it being a well- 
ecognized fact that in generalized tuberculosis the blood con- 
ains the microorganisms of the disease. It is quite unlikely 
nat the food organs and tissues in mild, localized cases would 
ontain the bacillus, unless it might be the liver, with a possi- 
le rare occurrence in some of the other organs or tissues under 
onsideration. The food organs or tissues of these mild cases 
nght not to be found infectious unless contaminated from non- 
