514 DISEASE IN WILD MAMMALS AND BIRDS 
tubercle bacillus, judging by the staining characters and 
two successful cultures. 
Discovery of Tuberculosis During Life. 
Fully developed chronic tuberculosis may be recog- 
nized with reasonable ease in the human being and some 
domestic animals. The diagnosis rests largely upon the 
history and symptoms and partly upon the appearance of 
the individual and upon signs elicited by physical exam- 
ination. There is good reason to believe that these latter 
methods are entirely applicable to certain wild animals, 
notably those that can be caught and held quiet, but 
because of their naturally great reserve many specimens 
offer little reason for suspicion as to their tuberculous 
condition until near death. Certain ungulates with 
chronic pulmonary disease get thin and weak but remain 
on their feet with good appetite and satisfactory dis- 
charges for many months. Primates, Camivora, Roden- 
tia and Aves not uncommonly come to autopsy with very 
good coats and without great emaciation and yet are 
heavily infected. It can be stated with fair positiveness 
that no chain of historical data or gross observations are 
certainly known to us as indicative of tuberculosis in the 
wild beast. Coughing is not necessarily characteristic of 
chronic pulmonary infection, although when continuous it 
rouses considerable suspicion, especially in the Ungulata. 
It is to be interpreted with care in all animals that have 
loose bedding as bits of straw or seeds get into the throat 
causing irritation; the dust of hay may cause coughing 
in horses. 
However much chronic or fatal tuberculosis may be 
interesting from the standpoint of pathology or of 
zoological or visceral incidence, the most important fac- 
tors in our knowledge of the disease are its early recogni- 
tion and treatment, either for curative or hygienic 
purposes. Since we have learned that advanced lesions 
may exist in an animal without materially affecting its 
