St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1882-08-05
TubercuIOuS Food.

AS far back as February, 1879, the
New York College of Veterinary Sur
geons appointed q committee, consisting
of Prof. j. M. Heard, Dr. Willard Par
ker Worster, and Francis Gerry Fair
neld, Ph. d., ''to inquire into the causa-
uon, propagation, pathology, and sani-
tary and physiological relations of tu-
berculosls in the domestic animals. "
The committees report has just been
presented to DR.. Edmund G. Rawson,
PRESIDENT of the Veterinary College, and
IS elaborate in its details of the subject
on which it treats.
Prof. Heard states, in the opinions
submitted by him, that about fifteen per
cent. OF the beef and milk offered for
sale IN the New York market is derived
from animals infected with tubercles.
The inference is drawn that the con-
sumption by man of tuberculous meat
and milk is one of the main causes of
the prevalence of pulmonary phthisis.
Inns inference receives additional force,
the report goes on to say, from the fact
established by experiment in European
veterinary colleges that protracted boil
ing OF Mberculous matter by no means
extlnguishes its virulence and but slight
~ impairs the energy of its action as
poison. During the lapse of the three
years since the commission was appoint
Cd Or. Fairfield instituted almost daily
examinations of every specimen of milk
ne could secure, obtaining specimens
lndlscriminately from groceries and
milkmen. He examined 100 slides for
of yrhi oh III:
ousiy diseased and presented in every
field OF the instrument myriads of NOV
ing bodies, generally perfectly sperical
IN for1n' but marked apparently by q
minute central depression. Under the
same conditions of temperature and
barometrical pressure milk containing
these bodies sours in about one-third of
the time required by the healthy secre-
ton, and the clabber possesses pecu-
llar pasty consistency and emits when
agitated a sickening and offensive odor.
Six specimens out of the 100 were
marked by the presence of extremely
minute white spherules, and in three
specimens there was noticed the pres
ence of bacterici in association with the
larger spherical bodies. In four, OBJ
eoAhCo HUH laUtTCulOuS COWS, the MIN |
ute white spherules were present in |
small numbers in the fresh state, and
after standing for three hours at tenn
perature of 78 degrees Fahrenheit the
field was alive with micrococei. From
this stage putrescence is rapidly devel-
oped, and the milk is transformed into
pasty mass, which on agitation emits
an intolerably putrid odor, and on mi
eroscopic examination exhibits groups
OF fungous cells in the midst of fully
developed mycelium.
In conclusion the Professor saws:
"From the study of more than 1000
specimens of milk since l had the honor
OF being appointed upon the commission
am fully persuaded that microscopic
examination furnishes the surest and
means that can be devised for
the detection of the diseased article.
The tests employed in the ordinary in
spection are certainly inadequate and
unsatisfactory in this important particu-
lar, and doubt whether an exhaustive
quantitative analysis would have re-
Vealed the faint which the lens was COM
petent to detect in an examination re-
1uiring not more than five minutes. y
~. Y. Herald.