The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-07-19
Letter From DIR. Smith,
To the Editor of the Press:

S~"SSS' ~
Dear Sir:-Will you kindly allow me
the opportunity to make statement
relative to the article recently appearing
in the public prints under the heading of
Long Dispute Settled "That COW at
Blue Hill had tuberculosis, ETC. 1t is
well calculated to mislead those who are
not familiar with the facts, and contains
some statements which may be mildly
stated to be inaccurate.
The article in question states s'that
three children died suddenly and under
peculiar circumstances, that several
physicians made an investigation 'and
1t was decided that tubercular pneumonia
caused the deaths'''
This collective statement is not true.
But two children died, each after
an illness of several days. The circum-
stances may have seemed peculiar to
the veterinary practitioners interested, and
to the professional, but not to
physicians who know that pneumonia is
a not infrequent complication of measles
from which, the children had suffered and
were suffering, that disease having been
epidemic in that vicinity, and also that
pneumonia is an infective disease. The
popularity is further removed from
this case when the fact is considered, that
the family consisting of some seven per-
sons were Giving in camp, with
marked unsanitary surroundings. Three
of the affected children were in one small
IL.
small room which served as cooking,
dining and living room. The father with
no means of support but his hands al
though industrious, had not been able to
properly feed and clothe this large
family" 1 quote from DIR. John F.
Manning of Ellsworth, who further says
(June 18th, 1891: "The younger children
aged about two and four years are quite
recovered from the disease and third is
improving The mother told me these
younger children had fed largely upon
the milk while the older ones (those
diseased) had not taken SO much" 1t
may be said in passing, that there was
enough in the circumstances surrounding
this family and their illness to explain
their pneumonia apart from the fact of
having drank milk from a suspected cow,
especially since no evidence has ever been
offered that the udder was tuberculous.
Moreover as bearing upon future develop
ments in these cases it must be under
st God that pneumonia is the one disease
which lays the foundation for future
tuberculosis, especially in feeble, i'll
nourished subjects.
The sickness of the children without
any regard to the other facts in the case
was at once seized upon to substantiate
the contention which had already been
made that the COW was tuberculous, and
to prove the infallibility of the tuberculin
test. 1t was not decided by the three
physicians that 'ttubercular pneumonia
caused the Deaths That gave rise to the
examination of the sputum and lungs
from the children. / deem 1t proper to
sattle these facts since the possible con-
nection of human sickness with cows
milk having been brought to the attention
of the State Board of Health full in
quiry into the facts was made and nv
conclusion as to the sickness of the father
and children would have been the same
even had 1 believed the COW to have been
tuberculous. This part of the controversy
is only an illustration of the reckless wav
in which matters are sometimes twisted
and turned, for particular purposes only