EASTERN COUNTIES VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 273 
aids, it has already thrown a flood of light on what was before obscure, 
while it has revealed most startling facts which were never suspected, 
and which places it in the power of man to understand the manner in 
which morbid processes are set up and extended, to avert them, and to 
remedy their effects. To seek out means of prevention, and to thoroughly 
investigate the influences which lead to the production and perpetuation 
of disease, whether in man or beast, is a far higher, nobler, and more 
satisfactory task than attempting to discover cures ; it is the special and 
sacred duty of the sanitarian, no less than the pathologist. The disease 
he was about to bring to notice—tuberculosis—though possibly affecting 
bovine animals for a very long time, has only recently started into pro¬ 
minence, and is receiving great and deserved attention, though not in 
this country, he feared. For many years his attention had been particu¬ 
larly drawn to the greater frequency of this malady among cattle, and 
his acquaintance with what was going on in veterinary science on the 
Continent led him still further to inquire into this progressively extend¬ 
ing disease. Fillemin had experimentally demonstrated the inoculability 
of human tubercle, and Continental veterinarians—notably, Chau van, 
Gerlach, and Coleir—aware of the analogy, if not identity, of this 
tubercle to that found in cattle, instituted not only inoculation, but also 
feeding experiments with the tuberculous matter, as well as the milk and 
flesh of tuberculous cows. In 1874 the evidence seemed to be so strong 
and decisive that he wrote a long paper on the malady, which showed 
there was great reason to apprehend that, if it could be produced ex¬ 
perimentally by feeding animals on the flesh and milk of cattle which 
had been tuberculous, the same result might occur accidentally in our 
own species. He also referred to the possibility of the large mortality 
among infants from what is known as “ infantile diarrhoea ” being due, 
at least to some extent, to their receiving the milk of tuberculous cows. 
In ‘Veterinary Sanitary Science and Police 5 (vol.ii), published in 1875, 
he also included it as one of the diseases which caused great destruction 
among the cattle by its infectiousness, and treated it as a malady which, 
for this reason and also because of the grave risk of injury to mankind, 
should be made the subject of Government control. Nothing, however, 
had been done to protect animals or people from the disorder, nor did 
he suppose there would be, until public pressure was brought to bear on 
the Government, when the mortality among people from consumption 
and other morbid conditions due to this cause, has reached an alarming 
extent. Whatever amount of indifference or absence of knowledge the 
Government may manifest, it is nevertheless incumbent on the veterinary 
profession, as guardians of the animal wealth of the country, so far as 
sanitary science is concerned, and also to some extent of the public 
health in the matter of food, to not only keep this very serious matter in 
view, but also to ascertain all they can with regard to it. To what 
extent the disease prevailed in this country he knew not, neither did he 
know how information could be obtained. There is no sanitary in¬ 
spection of dairy stock; our public abattoirs are, he regretted to say, 
exceedingly few, and he was not aware whether the carcases of all 
animals killed therein are inspected while being dressed, or what steps 
are adopted to discover disease in them. The private slaughter-houses 
afford ample opportunity for killing, dressing, and disposing of diseased 
auimals without observation, and until public abattoirs can be generally 
instituted, placed under regular sanitary surveillance with regard to the 
condition of the animals killed in them, and statistics drawn up with 
respect to the diseases observed, they would have no conception of the 
extent to which this and other disorders prevail among animals destined 
