274 EASTERN COUNTIES VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
as food for man, especially in our large towns. (Applause.) Mr. Fleming 
then referred to some statistics collected on the Continent, giving 
some idea as to the prevalence of tuberculosis, and from which an infer¬ 
ence might be drawn as to the state of things in our own country. He 
mentioned that in 1789, 1791, and 1794, it appears to have been very 
prevalent in the neighbourhood of Paris ; in 1791 it caused much 
destruction of cattle in the department of la Meurthe ; in the depart¬ 
ments of the Jura, Doubs, Vosges, and others in France, it has also at 
various times caused alarming loss ; and Hurtrel d’Arboral estimated that 
one in every eight or ten head of cattle was destroyed in Brie, Beauce, 
Caux, and other parts of that kingdom, by this so-called “ Phthisie- 
pulmonaire.” In Germany the disease is also very prevalent; Wolff 
asserts that in the County of Leignitz, Saxony, 15 to 20 per cent, of 
the cattle was affected. At the abattoir of Munich, in 1875, Drechsler 
found 704 cattle tuberculous out of 55,882 head, those with isolated 
tubercle not beinsc included. At Mannheim Fuchs discovered that in 
1831 cattle, 65 were tuberculous. Zippelius, of Obernburg, about ten 
years ago commenced an inquiry, and after the most careful observations 
in a number of district abattoirs up to January 10th, 1873, he estimated 
the number of cases at 2'50 per 1000 of the bovine population through¬ 
out his part of Germany, and he only took notes of those cases which 
appeared on the registers of the abattoirs as undoubted tuberculosis. 
As the result of his inquiry he came to the following important conclu¬ 
sions, which were derived from investigations carried on in thirty-six 
different localities ; 
1. That bovine tuberculosis is most common in poor localities. 
2. That the localities in which the disease is frequent are all situated 
in valleys, and that it is all the more common as the valleys are narrow 
and deep. 
3. That the mortality caused by tuberculosis is less, all things being 
equal, in the parts of the narrow and deep valleys where the dwellings 
are widely separated than in those where they are not so. 
4. That the localities situated in elevated plains freely exposed are 
seldom visited by the malady, even if the cattle are maintained in con¬ 
ditions little favorable to health. 
5. That the mortality from this affection is, all other conditions being 
equal, greater in localities enclosed by walls than in those which are 
open. 
6. That in those places where tuberculosis is most frequent the largest 
number of tumours about the head are met with. 
7. That in the seven localities in the district of Obernburg, where 
the smallest number of cases is seen, there were 47,981 cows, while in 
that where they are most common there were 57,083 cows per 1000 head 
of cattle. 
8. That the frequency of tuberculosis in man is in general independent 
of the use of the flesh or milk of tuberculous cattle ; at least, no relation 
could be established between these two factors, though no restriction is 
placed upon the consumption of the flesh and milk. 
9. That the mortality from tuberculosis in man in the Obernburg dis¬ 
trict is 3’32 ; that is, higher than the average mortality from the malady 
in the other parts of the kingdom (in which it is 2T6) ; that this malady 
in man generally depends upon the same local conditions as bovine 
tuberculosis, though in a less degree ; that in none of the localities has 
the mortality from the disease in man attained the proportions of that in 
cattle, but that it is more uniformly spread in the different localities. 
Dr, Hoffmann thinks, and with good reason, says Zippelius, that the 
