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6
Twenty-five years since this disease was considered
to be constitutional, due to inherited weakness
aided by unfavourable conditions of life. We now
recognise that it is due to a specific micro-organism
introduced into the system from without, and that
the reception of this micro-organism can be prevented
by appropriate means.
Tubercular diseases still cause between twelve and
thirteen out of every hundred deaths. If these diseases
could be entirely removed from the list of diseases, the
death rate would be very considerably reduced
by the simple elimination of one of the causes
of death which is perfectly within the range of
preventive medicine. The causes of phthisis are
dampness of subsoil, damp houses, which have a
decided tendency to predispose to the inroads of
phthisis, as also overcrowding, and as a result deficient
ventilation. Occupations in which dust is inhaled,
more especially when the occupation is of an indoor
character, forming a fertile source of the disease. It
may also be communicated by means of food, meat and
milk more especially.
A Royal Commission reported on this subject in
April, 1895.
The Commissioners report that, "any person who
takes tuberculous matter into the body as food, incurs
some risk of acquiring tuberculous disease." The
chief site of tuberculous disease is in the internal
organs.
As regards milk, there is little doubt that it
is a very fertile source of tuberculous disease, especially
in young children. So far as cow's milk is concerned