4 
BULLETIN 66. 
(and which are in harmony with a great majority of the 
foremost investigators in this line of research) and the con¬ 
clusions arrived at by reliable authorities are here compiled 
in as brief a manner as possible, hoping to accomplish some¬ 
thing toward arousing the masses from their lethargy rela¬ 
tive to the importance of this serious condition as affecting 
the animal wealth and the possibility of its being a prolific 
source of disease in the human family. 
In the annual report of the Veterinary Science Depart¬ 
ment of the College, the assertion is ventured that the 
public in general in judging of veterinary science is prone to 
look upon it from a purely commercial (and in a lesser 
degree humanitarian) standpoint and do not take cognizance 
of its broader sphere of usefulness, viz: what the science is 
doing for the health and lives of the people themselves. It 
is in keeping with this thought that we venture a step 
further and assert that the educated veterinarians are 
among the leaders in the van now vigorously prosecuting 
the research that is being made in regard to the relation of 
human to bovine tuberculosis. 
Tubercular consumption is one of the most dreadful 
and unfortunately, most common’ diseases of mankind. 
People of all ages or circumstances, and environments, 
regardless of climate, nationality, or degree of civilization, 
are subject to infection, if exposed under proper conditions. 
None are immune, and the present conditions prevailing, it 
looks as if we are doomed to become a sickly, consumptive 
race, and that its ravages must eventually almost wipe the 
human race from the face of the earth. 
The greatest good to humanity will be accomplished 
along the line of preventing disease and while the prevailing 
medical thought now, both human and veterinary, is ab¬ 
sorbed in new remedies, and is alive with keen expectancy 
as to the possibilities of sero-therepy, (which seems almost 
beyond conjecture) yet, after all, we must admit that 
prophylaxy (prevention of disease) is of vastly more im¬ 
portance than the discovery of new cures. 
NOT A NEW DISEASE. 
History from the earliest times has been replete with 
accounts of this “great white plague” and the theories 
advanced to account for its etiology and pathology have 
only been equalled in variety by the persistency with which 
they have gone wide of the mark. 
