EASTERN COUNTIES VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 2?5 
frequency of marriages has a noted influence on the great number of 
deaths from tuberculosis, occurring amongst the inhabitants of that 
district. 
Mr. Fleming next directed his attention to Bavaria, where all doubt ap¬ 
peared to have been removed that this disease, so common in this country, 
is identical with phthisis in mankind. If the conclusions arrived at by 
Gerlach from his feeding experiments—(namely, that the flesh and milk 
of tuberculous animals must be excluded from human food on principle, 
since by using it in its raw and half-cooked state, tuberculosis is liable 
to be reproduced in man)—were carried into practice, and the connection 
of tuberculosis in cattle with that of the human subject be firmly esta¬ 
blished, it was felt that the result would be to furnish the sanitary and 
veterinary police with a very difficult task, as well as involving serious 
loss and injury to the agricultural interest. Gerlach’s views, however, 
were so far at variance with the German veterinarians, but his experi¬ 
ments relative to the transmissibility of tuberculosis to man, although 
no doubt worthy of great attention, could not yet be regarded as 
thoroughly conclusive. From statistics collected, it appeared that in 
1877 there were 4976 cases of tuberculois reported, as follows:—Upper 
Bavaria, 1557; Lower Bavaria, 395; Pfalz, 502; Upper Pfalz, 425 ; 
Upper Franconia, 270 ; Middle Franconia, 227 ; Lower Franconia, 447; 
and Swabia, 1096. Upper Bavaria and Swabia had more cases (2663) 
than all the other counties (2323) in Bavaria. Touching upon some of 
the results of the inquiry in that country, Mr. Fleming stated that the 
hereditary tendency of the disorder appears to be established in nearly 
all the reports. In-and-in breeding was a cause assigned in a number of 
the reports, and in others the consorting of the sexes and the abundant 
secretion of milk. The general result goes to show that 5‘84 out of 
every 1000 cattle in Bavaria are affected with tuberculosis. In Italy, 
Holland, Switzerland, and other temperate countries, Mr. Fleming pro¬ 
ceeded to remark that tuberculosis makes more or less havoc among 
bovines; and in Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and America-States 
and Canada, it is well known. Strange to say, it does not appear to be 
a disease of cold climates. There is good reason for thinking that it 
exists as widely and generally in England as in any other country. Our 
dairy stock are probably largely infected, and among high-bred cattle it 
is not only prevalent, but from what he could learn, it is on the increase. 
Assuming the disease to be as common in this country as in Bavaria, we 
may reckon 5 per cent, of our bovines as infected. With regard to the 
pathology of bovine tuberculosis, it seems now to be admitted by all 
those authorities who are most competent to give an opinion, that it 
bears the closest analogy to, if it is not absolutely identical with, human 
tuberculosis: the majority incline to the latter opinion, and anatomically, 
clinically, and experimentally, as well as etiologically, they must be 
looked upon as the same. The malady has scarcely been studied in this 
country, but it has long been known by various local names amongst 
farmers, farriers, and butchers, while its external manifestations have 
been looked upon as something akin to scrofula by those veterinarians 
who have recognised it. Mr. Fleming, fortifying himself by the opinion 
of eminent authorities, entered into a full pathological description of the 
disease, observing specially that the lymphatic glands appear to be the 
peculiar seat of miliary tubercles—a tendency which affords a good aid 
to diagnosing the presence of the disease in a living animal. Such organs 
as the lungs and liver sometimes attain great dimensions by the tuber¬ 
cular infiltration, while their density is immensely increased. _ Mucous, 
in addition to the serous membranes—the brain, uterus, testicles, kid- 
