BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS. 
85 
cause of congenital tnbercnlosis. It may take place when, in ’ 
consequence of generalized tnbercnlosis of the mother, tubercle ^ 
bacilli are in the circulation and become lodged in the placenta, 
whence through some ruptured vessel, they may pass into the 
blood of the foetus. 
The bacteriological examination of the sperma is easier than 
that of the blood and often of greater importance ; and in pa¬ 
tients showing no evidence of inherited tnbercnlosis, there has 
been found micro-organisms (cocci and bacilli) in the sperma of 
patients, whose blood frequently examined showed no microbic 
elements. Distinguished German pathologists assert: 
The importance of differentiating between the finding of or¬ 
ganisms in blood on one hand and spermatic fluid on the other 
must not be forgotten. The blood is not a culture medium, 
merely carrying micro-organisms with it which it meets in its 
circulation. The spermatic fluid, on the contrary, is an ideal 
and favorite habitat for micro-organisms of other chronic diseases 
besides tnbercnlosis. 
The microbes circulate merelv in the blood but live in the 
spermatic fluid. The presence of microbes in the blood means 
that somewhere in the body a focus of infection exists which 
sends microbes into the blood. The presence of microbes in the 
blood, however, may suffice to furnish an early diagnosis of 
tnbercnlosis before any noticeable clinical manifestations ensue. 
We can point out many cases early diagnosticated as tnbercn¬ 
losis through blood examination whose only symptoms were 
anaemia or disturbances of digestion, that proved to be tuber¬ 
cular afterward. The presence of microbes in the spermatic 
fluid, however, is of far greater importance, as it throws a new 
light upon the transfer of the microbe from father to child, not 
■only in tnbercnlosis, but in syphilis, etc. Therefore to the 
author there is no doubt on this point, that an infected parent 
■can inoculate the ovum at the time of fecundation.— \Oest. 
Monatschrift. Thierhlk nnd Revue.'\ 
Is not this that mode of generation in which the germ is 
held to pre-exist in the parent, and its parts to be developed ? Is 
