THE TUBERCULIN TEST IN MASSACHUSETTS. 
481 
transmission to human beings when taken as an article of food 
must be very mythical. 
However, from the standpoint of scientists it only requires 
the development of a very small nodule of tuberculous matter 
to impregnate the whole system. Be that as it may, meat im¬ 
pregnated with just such a poisonous element has for years been 
eaten without a great amount of damage being done in regard 
to the health of the people. On general principles, no one cares 
to partake of the meat of diseased cows when it can be avoided ; 
and no doubt very stringent measures are taken to prevent such. 
We have ample evidence of that. 
Of the 130 cows that were condemned and killed, and sub¬ 
jected to a rigid examination, not in a single instance was the 
udder found diseased, with the exception of the presence of 
garget (even when the deposits of tuberculous matter were quite 
large in other organs), showing that the danger from partaking 
of the milk from these cows was comparatively small. 
Of the 20 cows killed and examined that did not react from 
the tuberculin test, 7 were found more or less diseased, showing 
beyond a possible doubt that the tuberculin test is not in¬ 
fallible, and that it does not determine, by reaction after being 
injected, the presence of tuberculous matter, as in many cows 
that did react, only developed the fact of a pus cavity existing 
in some part of the animal’s anatomy, generally due to the 
presence of a foreign body, as in many cases were found nails 
and hay wire embedded in the walls of the large stomach. If 
by the injecting of tuberculin the percentage of tuberculous 
matter could be ascertained and located, it would be of immense 
value as an agent. The fact of several cows reacting after being 
tested with that, and on post-mortem examination no tubercu¬ 
lous matter found, only an abscess, shows that much is to be 
learned in regard to its use before it can be thoroughly relied 
upon. If it is an established fact, which I doubt very much, that 
cows affected with a very small percentage of tuberculous 
matter, which is not visible to the naked e^^e, can transmit the 
poisonous elements it contains to human beings when partaken 
of as food, then we shall have to eschew beef as an article of 
food, and submit to have all the cows destroyed and the car¬ 
casses converted into fertilizer. 
Very respectfully yours, 
Chas. R. Wood, V. S. 
The following post-mortem findings accompany Dr. Wood’s 
report: 
