390 
FOURTH INTERNATIONAL VETERINARY CONGRESS. 
ought not to be any classification by degrees allowed in tuber¬ 
culosis ; when it exists the use of the meat is dangerous. Mr. 
Bouley was satisfied that the fact of tuberculosis, whatever may 
be its degree, should at once determine the rejection of the meat 
for use. 
Tuberculosis in man is certainly contagious. This is - a 
fact known by everybody; the transmission is readily effected 
from husband to wife. Perhaps one of the conditions of contag¬ 
ion is the infected saliva. Tuberculosis exists very extensively 
in our countries ; it kills one-fifth of the population. He thought 
that in the business of the butcher one must look for one of the 
principal causes of the large number of persons affected by 
phthisis; it is probable that infection through the digestive 
organs takes place as it does in the experiments of the laboratory. 
In closing, Mr. Bouley presented the following amendment: 
“ Tuberculosis being experimentally recognized as a disease 
transmissible by the digestive organs, and by inoculation, 
“The Congress declares that it is the dictate of wisdom and 
duty, to entirely exclude the flesh of tuberculous animals, from 
consumption as food by manj whatever may be the degree of 
the tuberculous affection or the apparent qualities of the meat.” 
He was of opinion that owners should be indemnified and 
would encourage butchers to establish mutual insurance com¬ 
panies. 
Mr. Van Hertsen said;—I have received the report of Mr. 
Lydtin only lately, and I have already noticed that in it notes 
have been made of all that has already been accomplished by 
science in France and Germany. He tells us what has been done 
in Belgium, and what is done in the abattoirs of Brussels, when 
tuberculous animals are found. These measures have been in 
use for a long time. He had published them in 1869, and already, 
at that time, he had adopted conclusions almost identical with 
those proposed by Mr. Lydtin to-day. 
In Brussels, all lean tuberculous animals are seized, as well as 
animals having numerous and generalized tubercles, or presenting 
softened, caseous or purulent tubercles, lesions which imply a 
general organic infection. When the lesions are serious and 
