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TUBERCULOSIS ‘IN ‘CATTLE. 39 
siderable source of tuberculosis, it would be inevitable that we 
should find a difference in the statistical results from countries 
where milk is used raw, and those from countries where it is 
sterilized. 
Now, what are the facts as shown by statistics? In the first 
place, during the last forty or fifty years there has nowhere 
been an increase in tuberculosis among men, but a very decided 
decrease. In Great Britain the decrease in forty-five years has 
been thirty-nine per cent. In America, in the United States, 
there has been a decrease of about the same amount. In the 
continental countries, so far as statistics are comparable, the re- 
sults are the same. Everywhere among European countries © 
the last half century has seen a very marked decrease in the 
amount of tuberculosis. Now, this decrease in tubercu- 
losis includes the disease at all ages, among adults and 
among children. It includes a decrease in all kinds of tuber- 
culosis, the tuberculosis in the lungs as well as.in the organs 
of the abdomen. It is true that the decrease among children 
has not been so great as it has been among adults, and it is 
claimed by some that tuberculosis of the abdominal viscera 
among children has not decreased. Moreover, the decrease 
in tuberculosis is as great, or perhaps greater, in England and 
the United States where milk is consumed without sterilization 
as it is in continental Europe where the milk is practically al- 
ways sterilized. And, lastly, there is apparently no greater 
decrease on the Continent in the last few years, since the intro- 
duction of sterilization of milk, than in other countries where 
sterilization has not been:so widely adopted. ‘The decrease 
in tuberculosis has been a constant one, but has been es- 
pecially rapid since the discovery of the tubercle bacillus. 
This decrease is attributable to greater knowledge of the dis- 
ease and to better sanitary conditions. It is found, further, 
that the amount of tuberculosis is the greatest among poor | 
children, and this is simply connected with the poorer nutri- 
tion. The country of Japan apparently has a larger amount 
of tuberculosis than almost any other country, it being stated 
that nearly one-third of the deaths occur from this disease. 
But the tuberculosis in Japan is certainly not traceable to milk, 
because until within very recent years the Japanese have not 
used milk as food. Within the last ten years the use of milk 
has become somewhat common in Japan; previously its use has 
been almost unknown. Nevertheless, the amount of tuber- 
culosis has been and still continues at this very high per cent. 
