In the face of the fact that the bovine bacillus is so constantly more virulent than the human bacillus for experi mental animals of so widely different species and habits of life, it does not seem safe to conclude because the hu man bacillus is not especially virulent for cattle that the bovine bacillus is non-virulent for man. Koch has said that this question could be settled posi tively only by the impossible expedient of inoculating a person with bovine tubercle bacilli. But it has happened that such inoculation has already oc curred accidentally in several instances. A number of men have contracted tuber culosis and several have died from in fections sustained in making post mortem examinations on tubercular cattle. These accidental cases show, be yond peradventure, that the bovine tubercle bacilli may, under some condi tions, be virulent for man. Leonard Pearson (Phila. Med. Jour, Aug. 3, 1901).
The following conclusions are reached after a series of experiments: Human and bovine tuberculosis are but slightly different manifestations of one and the same disease; they are intereommuni cable. Bovine tuberculosis is, therefore, a menace to human health. We are not in a position at present to define posi tively the extent of this danger. but that it really exists cannot be denied. In the past there has probably been a tendency to exaggeration; however great this may have been, it does not now justify any attempt at belittling the risk, and it is folly to blind ourselves to it.
The eradication of bovine tuberculosis is amply justifiable from a purely eco nomical standpoint; viewed in its bear ing on human health it becomes a public duty. M. P. Ravenel (Medicine, Aug., 1902).
Two personal cases of mesenteric-gland tuberculosis. One proved by bacteriolog ical tests to be from bovine bacilli, the other from the bacilli of human tubercu losis. In these eases the infection was evidently from the intestinal tract. and the one positive case shows the liability to human infection by bovine tubercle bacilli. A cow was inoculated with cul tures from the two eases. The bovine baeillus grew well in the animal's tissues. The human bacillus failed to grow. There was some slowness of growth on the part of the bovine bacillus evidently due to attenuation of virulence in human tissues. Two almost similar eases of mesenteric tuberculosis proved to give cultures of bacilli of the human type, so that out of four eases only one seemed due to infection from tuberculous meat or milk. There is no maeroscopical dif ference between the lesions due to the bovine and the human bacilli. In the caseating glands in which the bovine bacilli were found there were large num bers of bacilli, while very few in those due to a human infection. Dr. Ravenel, of Philadelphia, has reported a case of human mesenteric-gland infection also due to bovine bacilli. Theobald Smith (Proc. Assoc. of Amer. Plays.; Medical News, May 10. 1903).
While experimentally infection in an animal may be caused by material taken from a man. this method of infection may, for practical purposes, be neglected. Tuberculosis inflicts grave losses upon the animal industry and may spread from animals to man. It is less frequent
among cattle in the \Vest than in the East, where cattle are more in-doors. When introduced into a herd tubercu losis spreads rapidly. As the cattle in dustry has thrived bovine tuberculosis has grown in importance. It affects the greatest American industry, in a com mercial and monetary way. Advanced stages render milk unfit for human con sumption. Thus far but 1 per cent. of the diseased animals have been killed. on account of the expense. Slightly in fected animals should be isolated: all advanced eases killed. When meat is not eaten raw, there is no danger from the ingestion of tuberculous meat. Milk containing bovine tubercle bacilli may cause tuberculosis in children and young. susceptible individuals. But this is un common. Milk containing bovine tuber cle bacilli should not be used as food, nor should any milk containing micro co7anisms be sold. J. G. _Wand (Boston Med. and Sure. Jour.. June 5. l90:1).
The disease having been developed, there should be a partial isolation of the patient; we use the word partial ad visedly, for great injustice is done daily to sufferers from phthisis by panic stricken friends and relatives. If pos sible the patient should, in order to in sure recovery and to remove every pos sible source of danger to others, be sent to a sanitarium; when this is not pos sible, or if the disease be in the incurable stage, the patient should be given a sep arate sleeping apartment and should avoid kissing or fondling members of the family; all dishes used should be sterilized after each meal, and, finally, all sputa should be gathered in a proper receptacle and cremated.
The following rules are useful, both to the consumptive and to his friends: 1. Expectoration, in-doors, should be received into small paper bags and after ward burned.
2. Expectoration, out-of-doors, should be received into a suitable bottle, to be afterward washed out with boiling water, or into a small paper handkerchief, which is afterward burned.
3. If ordinary handkerchiefs are ever used for expectoration, they should be put into boiling water before they have time to become dry, or into some disin fectant solution to be ordered by the doctor.
4. Wet cleansing of rooms, particularly of bedrooms occupied by sick persons, should be substituted for "dusting?' 5. Sunlight and fresh air are the great est enemies of infection. Every con sumptive should sleep with his bed-room window open, top and bottom, and dur ing the day should occupy a well-venti lated room. Itebreathed air is the main cause favoring consumption. If the pa tient is warmly clad he need not fear keeping out-of-doors in any weather. (N. B.: The patient himself is the greatest gainer by the above precautions, as his recovery is retarded and frequently prevented by renewed infection derived from his own expectoration.) 6. Persons in good health have no reason to fear the infection of consump tion. Overfatigue, intemperance, bad air, and dusty occupations favor con sumption. Gilbert Gordon (Canada Lancet, June, '99).