598 
G. A. JOHNSON. 
of a very malignant type prevails among these tribes. Whereas, 
the tribes of most of the interior parts of Africa, who have no 
domestic animals because of the Tsetse fly, are free from tuber¬ 
culosis. 
Madagascar .—The native tribes of this island have com¬ 
paratively large herds of cattle, the flesh and milk of which 
form their principal source of food. And, according to Grenet, 
this semi-civilized people are severely afflicted with tuberculosis. 
North American Indians .—Previous to the time that Uncle 
Sam placed the Indians under his fatherly care, they were free 
from tuberculosis; but since they have so far advanced in civi¬ 
lization as to eat beef furnished to them by this government, 
tuberculosis has become very prevalent. According to some of 
the physicians who have been stationed at some of the Indian 
reservations, tuberculosis causes as high as 50 per cent, of the 
mortality of some tribes. The custom of dividing a carcass of 
beef among a large number of Indians, and the fact that they 
eat any and all parts uncooked, either fresh or dried, will prob¬ 
ably account for the prevalence of the disease, as a single car¬ 
cass would, under these circumstances, serve to infect a large 
number of Indians. Some have attempted to account for this 
unusual percent, of infection by the filthy habits and unsani¬ 
tary abodes of the Indians. But I am of the opinion that there 
are no reasons to believe that the Indians are filthier to-day than 
they have always been. Nor are the Indian wigwams any filth¬ 
ier or as close and unsanitary, as are the igloos of their northern 
brothers, the Esquimaux ; yet these latter people, in their nat¬ 
ural haunts, are free from tuberculosis. The Esquimaux has 
his dogs and reindeer, but no tuberculosis ; while the Indian 
has his dogs and beef, and is seriously afflicted with tuberculosis. 
On the other hand, it has been found that the Indian is no more 
susceptible to the disease than is the Esquimaux. For when 
the Esquimaux is brought in contact with the white man and 
his cow, he readily contracts the disease, as is shown by the 
prevalence of tuberculosis among these people who live in the 
Danish settlements of Greenland. 
