Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-12-30
CARRYING C0NTAGION.
THE DANGER OF CONSUMPTION
FROM TUBERCULOSIS.


Fromt the PhaodelDhia Press.
Can consumption be carried into the
human system by tue milk or flesh of beef
affected with tuberculosis? This is the
question which veterinary surgeons are
now inquiring into with renewed interest.
tuberculosis is disease that affects
organs of the same nature in both man
and the lower animals, and the general
opinion of veterinary surgeons is that the
disease can be and is impaired to man
who eats their flesh, through ingestiou.
DR.. John W. Gadsden, the well-known
veterinary surgeon, who has been max
ing inquiry into the subject of tubercu-
losIs In connection with other researches
into the subject of pleuro- pneumonia, said
Yesterday:
"There is no doubt that tuberculosis
can be impaired to child in the milk of
the diseased COW. Whether it can also
be carried in the flesh of an animal do
not know. Respecting milk, however,
am certain, for we have proofs that the
disease has been impaired in that way"
chow, then, can babies be protected!o
"By boiling the milk. Then the milk
becomes perfectly safe, for germ loses
its power after having been subjected to
boiling. Boiled milk, however, is es-
teemed TO be less nutritious than milk in
the natural state. but altogether it is bet
ter to take 1t that way than run the risk
of getting tuberculosis. Men and women
are exposed to the danger as well as
children. and for that reason i. for nv
part, never drink milk that has not been
boiled. The best plan, however, and
what we need most Is rigid inspection
of herds, with authority on the part of the
inspectors to summary kill the COWS
which have tuberculosis
''Is it easy TO detect the disease in
beevest"
mot always easy, but 10 is generally
possible. The worst cases are those
which have partly recovered and which,
after being sold, impart the disease to
other cattle. All animals with the dis
ease should, / think, be summarily butch
cred, for the best opinion seems to indi-
cate that the disease cannot be absolutely
cured"
sis there much of the disease here
lbouts?"
"There is good deal OF 1t all the time.
especially among fine Jersey and other
thoroughbred cattle. The disease is found
much more frequently, indeed, among
thoroughbred than among the commoner
kinds, ana some authorities think that it
is result of n-breeding, and the disease
once contracted, OF course, becomes
hereditary"
DIR. HUIDEKOPER'S VIEWS.
DR.. Rush Shipper Huidekoper, head of
the department of veterinary surgery at
the University Of Pennsylvania, was seen
respecting the matter last night at his
house, Ill South Twentieth street. be
said: s'That consumption may be brought
into the system in the milk or flesh Of
lower animals infected with tuberculosis
is matter known to all veterinarians.
The subject has not been so deeply investi-
gated in this country as it has been abroad,
though the disease, nevertheless, is quite
common here. l have frequently had &C.
casion to visit the abattoir, and in al
most every herd of cattle that l have
seen killed there have been some which
have been infected with tuberculosis.
The meat was sold, carrying with it the
danger of imparting the disease to some
man or woman"
DO you know personally of contagion
being thus carriedY
"Not in cases that have had PERSONAL
ly under my charge; but have observed
it IN the cases OF others. In a French viii
lage, as paper in French journal that
have just received tells US, the subject
Is very strikingly illustrated. The village
had known no case of consumption until
soldier returning from captivity in a
Prussian prison brought it. He died.
Shortly atterward a woman living some
distance from his house also died of the
disease. She had been robust and
hardy, and had never evinced any
trace of the disease before the
death of the first person. Inquiry was
made and it was ascertained that she had
purchased eleven fowl which had be-
lOnged to the soldier. Several of them
mad been killed for her, and, supposing
that If not thoroughly cooked they would
be more nutritious, she had eaten them
almost raw. Examination of those re-
naming showed that they all were
infected with tuberculosis. They
had eaten Of the elections from
the lungs OF the consumptive SOL
der, contracted tuberculosis In that way,
and In their flesh impaired 1t in their turn
to the woman. l think that many cases
OF consumption that, without any appar-
eht cause. break out in families in which
the disease could not have come by here
dity are caused by eating of the flesh or
drinking of the milk OF animals infected
with tuberculosis
"Wnat is the protective against this
dangerW
"a rigid inspection both of living ami
mails and of those slaughtered. Provision
Tor such inspection is made, it is true, by
the law, but the salary paid is so small
that thoroughly competent men can
hardly be induced TO serve for it. A
salary Of $4,000 should be paid, and a
man kept at the slaughter house all the
time. Moreover, no slaughterlng of cattle
should be permitted and the flesh of no
animals allowed to be sold with
out inspection. 1t is not by reason
Of consideration shown by the munich
PATTY that there are not more cases OF
consumption caused by eating the flesn OF
diseased cows aud poultry. Fortunately
meat is, as rule, well cooked before be-
ing eaten, and in that way such germs OF
disease AS may be in it are killed. Still,
there is always risk as things now are,
and that there should be rigid Inspec
ton Is matter about which there can
not be two questions"
WHAT NEW YORK MEN REPORT.
DR.. NJ. d. Blaine, of New York, in a
paper read before the New York Academy
OF Medicine the other night, said that as
the lower animals have organs similar in
construction and material to those OF
man, the disease existing in the one are
capable OF reproduction in the other, and
That 1t Is natural that man, who drinks
the lower animals milk and eats
their flesh should contract the
disease through ingestion. He said
that 2 per cent. of all the animals
killed in the abattoirs of New York have
tuberculosis and that q per cent. OF all
milph haw fla .IulV no