40 STORRS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 
Taking all of these facts together it is certainly plain that 
dairy products cannot be regarded as a very prolific source of 
tuberculosis, and that this danger is far overshadowed by other 
sources and is practically confined to children. While at the 
present time there is a considerable variation in the opinion of 
different bacteriologists upon the question, there is a very 
manifest tendency toward a minimization of the danger. The 
general opinion would be somewhat as follows. Mulk from 
tuberculous animals may be infected with the bacilli, if the 
animal has udder tuberculosis or generalized tuberculosis. 
Such milk may be dangerous to mankind. The danger, how- 
ever, is confined practically to young children, adults, except 
in rare instances, not being amenable to tuberculosis from this 
source. ‘The fact, however, that the milk of most tuberculous 
animals contains no bacilli, that the milk is commonly mixed 
with other healthful milk before it is drunk, that it is taken into 
the stomach and acted upon by the digestive juices, and that 
man, especially if in health, has a considerable personal re- 
sistance against an attack of the disease, reduces the danger 
from this source very greatly. Furthermore, when we consider 
the very decided reduction in the amount of tuberculosis in 
the last half century, running parallel with the increase in milk 
consumption, and the increase in tuberculosis among our 
cattle, we are driven unquestionably to the conclusion that if 
milk is a source of danger it is one of the small sources of 
danger, that the vast majority of cases of tuberculosis in man 
come from other sources than milk. We must regard the 
danger as existing especially for children, but its extent does 
not appear to be very great. 
II. MEASURES FOR COMBATING TUBERCULOSIS. 
We now come to the question, very important for our 
agriculturists, as to what kind of a battle can be waged against 
this disease. It is a distinctly agricultural problem, only in- 
directly concerning the public. At the outset we may ask 
whether there is a probability that the disease can be eradicated 
from our herds. It is well known that pleuro-pneumonia has 
been practically exterminated from cattle. It has been claimed 
that we may have equal success in eradicating tuberculosis, 
and in time obtain a set of cattle entirely free from the disease. 
There are, however, few people, probably no scientists, who 
have such a hone at the present time. The problem is a very 
