CONSUMPTION, AND THE STERILIZATION OF MILK.
It is always best to sterilize or boil all milk, whether from suspected animals or not, before using, as this destroys the germs which are responsible for the disease. In consumption, the rise of temperature and the destruction of tissue are due to the germ product, a poison known as tuberculin. This poison is not destroyed by boiling. Milk from diseased animals may be rendered less dangerous by boiling, but can never be made wholesome. There is no satisfactory way of detecting the disease in milk. The only way of detecting diseased milk is by an examination of the animals furnishing it. Merely a physical examination is of little value, since animals in the earlier stages of the disease often pass unnoticed and unsuspected. They may have a good appetite, be in good spirits, have smooth and glossy hair, and furnish a large flow of rich milk. In many cases, cattle, to all outward appearance in good condition, are killed, and the lungs and ribs are found to be covered with tubercles. As the disease progresses, it may sometimes be detected by an occasional cough by the animal when drinking cold water. Shortness of breath also may be noticed when the animal is driven hard. Hollow and shrunken eyes, hollow flank, and lack of muscles, are present in the later stages. It would not be well, however, to depend on these indications, since they appear only in advanced stages. As has been stated, animals may be unsuspected, and appear healthy, and yet suffer from a latent or chronic form of the disease. This condition may continue for years, the germs not producing sufficient poison perceptibly to undermine the system, or to cause visible symptoms. Whether tuberculosis is present in these cases or not, can be detected only by the tuberculin test. What is the tuberculin test?—Tuberculin is the poison produced by the germ of consumption. The germs are carefully isolated, and grown in laboratories in favorable media. They are afterward destroyed by heat, leaving free the pure chemical poison. Two to four drops of this poison, diluted, is injected into the tissue of the suspected animal. The dose is so small that it will not produce any great disturbance in a perfectly healthy animal. If, however, the animal has a chronic form of consumption, or if it has the disease in its first stages, there is circulating in the lymph and blood a certain amount of the same kind of poison, produced by the action of the germs in the body; the quantity not being sufficient to do serious injury or to cause a rise of temperature, since it is eliminated as fast as formed. If this amount is increased by the diluted injection, the disease processes are aggravated, and fever ensues. In twelve to twenty-four hours after the injection is made, the fever rises from two degrees to six degrees, or even higher. Often this test has condemned cattle which were so entirely unsuspected of having the disease, that, only after slaughtering, could the owner believe that no mistake had been made. I am sure that we shall yet discover that there are more animals affected with this trouble than we are at present aware of, and still the flesh and the milk of these diseased animals are continually sold all over the country as food for ourselves and children. Let us notice the danger in using such foods: Among men, as well as among cattle, there are many who have a chronic form of consumption, yet appear to be in good health. The imperial health officer of Berlin, Germany, reports evidence of tuberculosis in the body of every third person, between the ages of fifteen and sixty years, examined by him after death. The germs present in the lungs, or in some other organ of the body, may not be in sufficient numbers to do serious harm. By proper exercise, open-air life, etc., the poisons produced by them are readily eliminated; in this way, the tissue maintains, in a measure, its power of resistance, the development and growth of these germs are prevented, and the disease is kept localized. Such a condition may continue for years, and, in some instances does, the person enjoying a fair degree of health, and passing unsuspected of being tubercular. If, in these cases, however, we should make an injection of tuberculin, or apply the tuberculin test, the disease would be hastened, as it is in tubercular cattle. A dose of this same poison, if taken in the milk, may produce equally bad results in such cases, and may stir up a latent form of consumption. Great care should always be exercised, and especially by those who have a tendency to this disease, in the selection and free use of these foods.—Australasian Good Health.