128 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Juxy, 1901. 
milk from cows which were suffering from tuberculosis. Mr. Burges 
remembered drinking milk from a very early stage of his existence, and | 
presume he referred to the milk of the cow. In the course of his whole life, if 
there had been so much tuberculosis prevalent, it would be a most extraordinary 
thing if he had not, at one time oranother, been subject to the influence of 
tuberculosis in cattle. J think [am right in assuming that unless an animal 
has tuberculosis locally under certain conditions, either in the milk glands, 
which secrete, I presume, diseased milk, or mechanically on the udder itself, 
where the bacilli of the tuberculosis can be mechanically brought into the milk— 
except, I say, under those two conditions, the milk of a tuberculous cow will” 
not affect those who drink it. And there is another matter which we must 
always consider in cases of disease —that is to say, disease is, after all, the 
result of several causes. First of all, there is the disease, there is the 
vehicle to the disease, and there is the patient. The person may suffer or may 
not. That will depend on his constitution. For instance, during the whole 
of our lives we have always been running risks of having various diseases | 
There are very few who have not seen people of their acquaintance suffering | 
from those diseases which are deemed to be contagious. It is not sufficient to 
have contagion, however. You must have a subject predisposed to that 
contagion. It might happen that I might drink milk which contained diseased | 
matter, and I might not contract disease. But it would not at all follow 
that I had not run the risk, and there it lies with regard to diseased milk 
generally. Ifa person takes milk or any other fluid which contains the germs | 
of disease, there is always a certain amount of risk. That risk may be a serious | 
danger, or it may, in the case of an individual who possesses a constitution 
which will throw off the disease, be infinitesimal. Nothing is more clear, 
therefore, that we should diminish, so far as wecan, the risks that everybody runs, 
and in the case of a diseased cow, I do not think a properly constituted dairyman | 
or citizen would employ such an animal. But it is quite evident that any 
endeavour which is made by individuals or by State action to stamp out a disease 
like tuberculosis, which, however you may be disposed to limit its danger, is’ 
nevertheless risky both to the rest of your stock and to the human being, is a 
perfectly legitimate endeavour which ought to receive universal support. First _ 
of all, I say, by all means lessen the risk of these diseases and increase the 
safety of human life, and, secondly, save the risk of financial loss among the 
community. I hope that anything that is proposed in this way, either by 
voluntary co-operation on the part of the farmers or by Government action, 
will receive the support of those agriculturists who are directly interested, 
As for risks: We have all been running risks, and possibly too much 
may be made of risks which are believed to be new, because they have 
a new name. Since the time of Adam, diseases have been present, and 
human society and animal society have still managed to work through. At the 
smoke concert this evening, I now find that Mr. Pound has kindly arranged to_ 
give a lecture, illustrated by lantern slides, and, although he may demonstrate a _ 
great many things we did not know before, we will not run any greater risk of 
certain diseases because we know more about them, and certainly if we have 
more knowledge with regard to them we shall be able to deal with them better, | 
for we shall be more masters of them. They have always existed. If you go 
to the smoke concert and see some of the horrors which [ have seen Mr, Pound | 
cast upon the stage, perhaps the enjoyment of the concert by some of you 
may be absolutely destroyed. But, in order to fortify the hearts of my friends” 
here, I will say that, whatever things Mr. Pound may depict, they are things 
which man has been subject to smce Adam, and which all previous generations: 
have up to the present tolerably safely negotiated. 
Mr. J. E. Dean (Maryborough): I am glad to say that the paper I read 
had the effect I desired it should have, and that was to bring about a 
discussion. ‘There are several things in that paper which Mr. Pound bears out, 
but J think that Mr. Maynard made a mistake when he said that I inferred 
that all milk is safe to use. . I did nothing of the kind; or else why did I say 
