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cles. They have experimented in order to discover whether a 
tuberculous germ does not pass in nature from the mother to the 
offspring, or to the placenta, in the same manner that chicken 
cholera and anthrax are transmitted, according to the teachings of 
Messrs. Arloing, Cornevin and others. The result of their ob¬ 
servations is thus given : A woman in the advanced stage of 
phthisis, a few days before dying gave birth to a foetus of six-and- 
a-half months, who died the same day. A piece of the lung of 
this foetus, apparently healthy, was introduced with ordinary 
carefulness into the peritoneum of a guinea pig. Four and a half 
months later the animal died tuberculous. The same result was 
obtained with a five months foetus of another woman dying 
of phthisis. Pieces of lung and of placenta, and a portion of 
cardiac blood, in this case transmitted tuberculosis. The same re¬ 
sult is obtained by the inoculation of tissues taken from the foetus 
of a healthy guinea pig, born from tuberculous parents. 
Conclusions .—There exist in the young offspring of tubercu¬ 
lous individuals a latent period of tuberculosis, which for a period 
of one or two years leaves the subject free from morbid manifesta¬ 
tions, the germ meanwhile preserving an existence in the tissues of 
the offspring, until its development is made manifest by an attack 
of tuberculous meningitis or broncho-pneumonia. 
The maternal transmission being thus demonstrated, can the 
tuberculous father transmit the infection directly to the ova of 
the healthy mother, she, meanwhile, remaining healthy ? Can 
the sperm of a tuberculous male transmit tuberculosis by direct 
inoculation ? 
The authors took from a guinea pig which had died from gen¬ 
eral tuberculization, but whose testicle was apparently healthy, 
some testicular pulp, and introduced it into the peritoneum of an 
adult guinea pig. Two months later this animal died spontan¬ 
eously with generalized tuberculosis. But was it the blood, the 
lymphatic fluid or the sperm which contained and conveyed the 
germ ? Two grammes of a mixture of salt water with the con¬ 
tents of the vesiculse seminalis of a tuberculous pig were injected 
into the peritoneum of another, three months later. This animal 
had generalized tuberculosis which could be transmitted. 
