TUBERCULOSIS IN CATTLE. 59 
doctors in the European countries are taught the necessity of 
sterilizing milk, and, to a greater or less extent, even the chil- 
dren are being taught the same fact in the schools. The result 
of this is certain to be that in a very short time the sterilization 
of milk for drinking purposes will there perhaps be almost uni- 
versal; so that the problem as to what can be done with the 
milk from the reacting herd is already practically solved in 
continental nations. | | 
In England and the United States, however, the problem is 
a very different one because, at least at the present time, the 
practice of sterilizing milk has not extended. widely, and the 
largest part of the milk which is used as food is used with- 
out sterilization. What can be done in these countries with 
the milk from the reacting herd is, therefore, a more puzzling 
question than in countries where sterilization is common. ‘The 
same question confronts continental nations in the use of butter 
which is commonly made from unsterilized cream. From 
what has already been pointed out it is clear that the danger 
of distribution of the disease through milk or butter is very 
slight, even where the milk is used raw, and that there is no 
statistical evidence for indicating that even in England and the 
United States milk has been to any considerable degree a 
source of tuberculosis in mankind. Under these circum- 
stances it seems that, even in these countries also, with a cer- 
tain amount of precaution, it may be perfectly safe to recom-— 
mend that milk from the reacting herd be used. It is, how- 
ever, necessary that certain precautions should be taken. In 
the first place, all animals suffering from generalized tuber- 
culosis, showing clinical symptoms of the disease, such as 
emaciation and cough, and, secondly, that all animals showing 
the slightest trace of an udder disease, should be excluded 
even from the reacting herd. Such animals are certainly a 
menace to the public health, as well as the health of the herd. 
They must be slaughtered and consequently rigidly excluded 
from any chance of sending their milk to the public. - Every 
one will recognize the necessity of this, even those who are in- 
clined to put the danger from tuberculosis through milk at its _ 
minimum. No one will question that an animal suffering 
from an uddér disease, whether it be tuberculosis or otherwise, 
or that an animal in the later stages of tuberculosis, should be 
prevented from furnishing the public with milk. 
With this precaution it is perhaps impractical and unneces- 
sary to limit further the use of the milk from the reacting herd. 
