BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS. 
11 
•diameter, containing a layer of sterile nutrient gelatine, were ex¬ 
posed for two minutes each on a gentleman’s farm near New 
York. One was exposed out of doors, a second in the barn, and 
a third under a cow just in front of the pail during milking. 
Subsequent examination showed that the plate exposed out of 
doors contained six bacteria, while that exposed in the barn re¬ 
ceived one hundred and eleven bacteria, and that exposed under 
the cow received one thousand eight hundred bacteria. If the 
latter number will fall from the belly of a cow during milking 
in a circle three and one-half inches in diameter, in two min¬ 
utes, one can easily appreciate the immense number that will 
fall into an ordinary milk pail during the whole period of milk¬ 
ing, and this emphasizes the fact that the great secret of obtain¬ 
ing a proper supply of milk is to have a healthy cow and to 
keep that cow clean. 
Dr. Freeman summarizes the diseases that may be conveyed 
by milk as, ist, those in which the pathogenic micro-organisms 
which are introduced into the milk are conveyed from the body 
of the diseased cow, as tuberculosis, anthrax, and acute enteritis. 
2d, those in which the pathogenic micro-organisms are intro¬ 
duced into the milk from some other source either during or 
after milking, as cholera, typhoid fever and diphtheria. 3d, 
those caused by milk which contains poisonous agents devel¬ 
oped by bacterial growth. 
Maine produces approximately 58,000,000 gallons of milk 
per year, and makes about 17,000,000 pounds of butter, while 
New York City alone consumes more than seven millions of gal¬ 
lons of milk every year, and the produce of the United States is 
five billion gallons annually. How much of this milk contains 
the “ germs of death ” may well challenge our attention and 
best efforts to make known. 
Prof. Ernst, of Harvard College, and Dr. Peters, State Veter¬ 
inary Surgeon of Massachusetts, report from the result of their 
experiments conducted under the most exacting conditions and 
with every possible precaution against contamination, that the 
proportion of positive results in a lot of cows affected with a 
