TUBERCULOSIS IN CATTLE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1009, 27 December 1910, Page 8

TUBERCULOSIS IN CATTLE.

j ' IS -THE DISEASE HEREDITARY? ['.'.■'■' In England, there has ..been, raging an ?.■:• . important controversy over .the question ;■'•.:,' .'whether or not tuberculosis in. cattlo.is )■':■■ ! hereditary.' . , ■ ' x . . ■ : -.'.■.'•. In : dealing with the "subject a writer s.:..'"■:.'-.■ in the."Live Stock Journal," who argues !:.:■' ' th'at the disease is'not hereditary, quotes [-y in. support of his. contention a very in- ?.': teresting extract 'from t "The Times" of i . October. •1 J, • "The Times" • article deals ',■■■ •-, ' with consumption in human beings, but it. is. v held :thati the .' discoveries there 'i- : ' touched.upon.apply, equally to cattle. '. ~ ' -The extract,runs:. "The; great.advance in medical,knowledge, for, wliich'we are r indebted; to the scientific .'pursuit of' bacteriology, has long since ' established two' ■ ■'. propositions of immense importance to ■;'.. ; '," .Im'afldn'd, the first being that consump- ■ tion, and' indeed tuberculosis in' all its forms,,, is a disease, i produced jin the.hu- :. man body by the .invasion of.a bacterial .-■ 'parasite—in other words,; by. a vegetable !' ■ organism. of extreme minuteness—and .the 6econd'being that this; parasite flourishes .only- under certain conditions, .'.which, ; . igiven.energy and.expenditure, it.is.well ;. " . 'within : the power'of mankind to control. ;.•'. Conclusions very nearly, approaching to '" these-were formulated many years ago by ai great but imperfectly appreciated '■.- * genius;- the late Dr. William Budd, of {.-.-.'■ Bristol, who declared consumption to bs . 'an _ infectious fever with a long period of incubation/ or, as it would now be !-.■ " : . expressed, a disease'occasioned by para-sites-of slow development,'instead of by tho more rapidly pervading kinds which are the causes .of typhoid fever or oi !., diphtheria. Dr. Budd protested earnestly against' the' belief, common in his day, that consumption could ever be inherited. i and. argued'strongly that it'could oulj ;'■' be acquired.. We may now claim to have [.■-.'- obtained certainty that'this', opinion is :._■;:-. . correct,/and..may, declare with coiiipleli |. . assurance;,that the children of consump !.■.-'.,'. tive'parents;are.hot born with the szedi ] ;v '. of disoaso-inherent in them, and'diffe: i from others,; if .'at all, only in the greats: '.•■'.-■ \risks;of infection to which they are ex posed by-their surroundings. The organ ism, -.which ' produces consumption i ;' thrown'off by the . sufferer ~ througl : .".-, ■ .various; channels,, notably..by that of ex v.'_ pectorationi. and may therefore bo.eaEih conveyed to other,._inmates ol the, sami dwelling." ■'; ''■ :.■■- Tho article proceeds; to point out so'mi of the.various conditions under which in fection.is, spread; and the means of pre 'vention, and then follow these words !'-. "Facts, like thes:-, which were but piou opinions with-Dr. Budd' and a few wh, rightly appreciated his teaching, hav >■ been placed beyond dispute by theidcii , tificatioir, of-the bacillus'by the lato Pre fe'ssor,Koch, and by the subsequent stud of.its life history by carefully-conducte experiments." . >