1 Ocr., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 317 
Animal Pathology. 
TUBERCULOSIS IN SPAYED COWS. 
By W. ©. QUINNELL, M.R.C.V.S. Lond., 
Government Veterinary Inspector. 
Norwitusranpine that a great deal has been written on Bovine tuberculosis 
and its propagation by heredity and contagion, I am not aware of any authentic 
records stating the disease to have been unwittingly introduced amongst cows by 
the operation commonly known as spaying. 1 may therefore be permitted to 
give here a general survey of the same, seeing that the subject is of itself of the 
highest importance, and that, moreover, since the recent short communication 
relating to the above, reported to the Stock Department and subsequently 
published, there has been a general desire for further information on the 
subject. This article may therefore be looked upon as a continuation of 
my previous remarks. 2 
During the month of July 332 spayed cows were operated on at one of 
the Brisbane Meat Works. A casual inspection of the animals in the pens 
showed that they were apparently in good health, and, to use 2 common term, 
“in fair butchering condition.” 
When slaughtered, however, sixty head, or 18. per cent., of this particular 
mob were condemned and destroyed for tuberculosis, the peculiar characteristic 
nature of which at the autopsies irrefutably demonstrated that the disease was 
caused by the operation of spaying, and that such data was the most extensive 
T have encountered during my connection with the various meat freezing and 
preserving establishments. 
POST-MORTEM REVELATIONS, 
1. From anatomo-pathological appearances revealed at the autopsies of the 
cows in question, there were a very few that exhibited the generalised form of 
the malady, whilst the majority were affected with the variety known as 
tuberculosis of the serous membrane (peritoneum)—namely, that membrane 
which lines the abdominal cavity and covers its viscera. 
2. The macroscopieal lesions presented on post-mortem examination morbid 
growths, which had all the manifestations pertaining to tuberculosis, varying 
in size and formation, and these lesions were at times exclusively localised, 
whilst again extending over various areas of the peritoneum, and, when the 
abdominal viscera were attacked, showed distinctly thatit was a case of secondary 
infection. 
3. In view of the fact that tubercular lesions permit one to approximately 
guess their age when examined by the naked eye, from observations in this 
direction it was noted that one element remained constant—namely, that the 
older tubercular deposits were found encircling the inflammatory remnants— 
the primary potent infective focus—the result of the spayer’s knife and inter- 
ference; whilst the lesions from that centre onward were seen to be passing 
through all the phases of their metamorphosis, and that the terminal growths 
were bounded at their periphery by an inflammatory zone—tubercular peritonitis 
—indicating the malady’s encroachment upon the healthy serous membrane. 
