TUBERCULOSIS IN CATTLE. at 
different one from that presented by pleuro-pneumonia. The 
disease is so widespread that is is manifestly impossible to ex- 
pect the slaughter of every animal suffering from the disease 
in an incipient form. It would mean bankruptcy to agricul- 
ture. Moreover, if it is true, as most bacteriologists believe, 
that the disease can be communicated from man to the animal, 
it is very certain that there will be a continued source of new 
cases until the disease is also eradicated from mankind. Con- 
sidering these difficulties, it is plain that we cannot hope to 
deal with the subject as we have dealt with pleuro-pneumonia. 
What may be hoped, however, is that the disease may be re- 
duced in amount and kept down to manageable limits. 
In the first place, it is evident that the problem is for our 
agriculturists a very serious one, a more serious one, indeed, 
than our American farmers are inclined to believe. It is 
certainly unwise for our agricultural communities to attempt 
to shut their eyes to the facts as they exist. It is equally 
unwise to overdraw the facts and produce undue alarm, 
either on the part of the farmers or on the part of the general 
public. The facts as they exist, however, indicate that the 
problem is a grave one, and that it concerns the agricul- 
turist himself more than it does the general public. It is 
true that the general consumer is interested in not having 
tuberculosis brought to him in his meat or milk or butter. But, 
as we have seen, this source of the disease in man is plainly 
a very small one as compared to other sources. The public 
is more interested in the elimination of the other sources 
of the disease rather than this one from the cow. To the 
agriculturist himself, however, the problem is a different one, 
and one really much more serious. The study of recent 
years has taught that for the health of the public the problem 
of bovine tuberculosis is less serious than was believed a few 
vears ago, but for the agriculturist himself it is more serious 
than was formerly recognized. 
In the first place, the direct loss that results to the farmer 
is something quite surprising. We have in our country little 
statistical evidence in this line, but it has been collected some- 
what accurately in Germany, and it was found, for example, 
that in Germany in the year 1895 there was a direct loss of 
one and one-half million dollars to the German farmers from 
the condemnation as tuberculous of the carcasses of slaugh- 
tered cattle. When we remember that much of the flesh of 
tuberculous animals in Germany is not condemned by the in- 
