The Portland daily press., 1897-06-16

,0l5 human beings Q1eQ rom pulm Onary
and other forms Of tuberculosis and that
1892 was probably not an exceptional
year in this regard, we ought to awake to
the Importance of removing the cause of
| this great fatality as far as possible.
The greatest obstacle to the suppression
of bovine tuberculosis next to criminal
indifference has been the difficulty in
determining what animals were affected
and what were healthy. We have had no
means by which we could detect the early
stages of the disease. If COW were well
fed and cared for she might for years be a
source of contagion in the herd and a
menace to the health of human beings
without her true condition being known
This difficulty in detecting the disease
made it practically impossible to get rid
of it, The most that could be done was
to kill off the advanced cases as soon as
they could be detected. Now, however,
this is changed. We have method by
which it is possible to detect tuberculosis
in cattle in any of its stages with a very
high degree of certainty. II there are any
cases that cannot be detected by this
means, they are either so advanced that
the merest novice will have no dllncu'ty
in diagnosing them by a physical examl-
nation, or, the animals are very snghtly
affected the disease for the time being
making no progress, SO that for practlcal
purposes they can hardly be considered
diseased.
In this brief bulletin it is impossible to
describe in detail the method by which
the diagnosis of tuberculosis in cattle is
made easy and certain. 1t is perhaps
sufficient to say that by simple injection
| OF a twentieth OF gram of tuberculln
underneath the skin of COW there will
be marked rise of temperature within
from nine to fifteen hours, provided she
has tuberculosis, and not otherwise.
| Tuberculin, the diagnostic agent, is a
chemical substance, that in the dose given
has not the slightest injurious effect up
on well animals. There are certain pre-
cautions to be taken to avoid mistakes,
and some degree of familiarity with the
| diseased conditions of cattle is necessary
on the part of one making the test but
with suitable instruments and pro-
fessional skill it is comparatively easy for
one man to examine herd of fifty
animals in less than twenty-four hours
and detect every case of tuberculosis that
may exist there. Thus we see that the
problem OF suppressing bovine tubercu-
losis, we will not say the complete exter-
mlnation, for this will be impossible
while other tuberculous subjects are
allowed to freely distribute the disease,
resolves itself into the simple testing of
| all boyines with tuberculin; and as soon
| as the public mind is awakened to the
| true Importance of the work this will be
done, and the tests will be repeated suf1i-
GENTLY often to keep the disease in check.
Public sentiment that will demand the
| suppression of what has long been re-
garded as an inevitable evil may be slow
| ly developed, but its development is sure
when the work to be accomplished is SO
| simple and important as the suppression
of tuberculosis
| But if radical and generally applicable
measures are not at once in operation to
do away with this disease, there is no
reason why individuals should not protect
their own herds and the lives of their
families and patrons by making sure that
they are not harboring it. A man who
will buy and keep family COW to supply
milk and butter for his children and not
adopt the simple and inexpensive meas
ures necessary to be sure she is not affect
ed with tuberculosis is ether ignorant of
the danger incurred or guilty of negli-
gence little short of criminal. The dairy
man who is supplying the public, 1nclud
ing invalids and children, who are par
ticularly SUSCEPTIBLE to consumption, with
milk or butter who will not go to the
slight expense necessary to test his herd
! for tuberculosis, has neither proper re-
gard for his own or patrons interest; and,
Particularly, the breeder of choice dairy
stock that will continue to breed and dis
tribute among other herds of cattle that
may and, as experience has shown, are
particularly liable to carry with them the
seeds of tuberculosis, is not deserving of
public confidence.
as-Au p-ruxz