154 EDITORIAL ARTICLES.

matters of hygiene, but had merely to determine the space necessary to accommodate a cow and leave room for the operations of feeding and milking. In that case, of course, they would not feel bound to pay any heed to the advice of the Medical Officer of Health.

How very ridiculous these regulations are must be patent to every­one with the most elementary knowledge of the principles of hygiene. Sanitarians have fixed the standard for human beings at 600 to 800

cubic feet per individual in ordinary habitations, and yet, forsooth, 450 feet is to suffice for a cow. This appears to us to be a case in which the united voice of the veterinary profession might make itself heard with advantage to the public, and we venture to suggest that the National Veterinary Association might very fittingly pass a resolution on the subject. Experience has abundantly proved what a potent influence on the prevention of tuberculosis among human beings is exerted by improved ventilation; and conversely, there can be little doubt that the alarming prevalence of tuberculosis among dairy cows is mainly due to the fact that the insufficient cubic space and defective ventilation almost universal in byres are eminently favourable for the transmission of the disease from animal to animal. Apparently the axiom that" prevention is better than cure" does not yet command universal acceptance-at least in County Councils.

EQUINE TUBERCULOSIS.

IT may be remembered that some time ago we published particulars of several cases of tuberculosis in the horse, and pointed out that the lesions of the spleen that had up till that time passed under the name of lymphadenoma were generally of a tuberculous nature. Sub­sequently we requested readers of the Journal to send us the spleen and other diseased organs from cases of equine tuberculosis, with a view to discovering how frequent the disease really is. In this way we have had brought to our knowledge about 40 cases of undoubted tuberculosis in the horse, and we take this opportunity to tender our thanks to those gentlemen who, sometimes at much trouble to them­selves, have contributed to the bringing together of a large amount of valuable material. In an early number we hope to publish in a connected form the whole of the information derived from the history of these cases and a careful examination of the diseased organs sent to us.

Meanwhile we desire to call attention to a point that is of some interest in connection with the etiology of the disease. With scarcely an exception, the cases of equine tuberculosis hitherto recorded,-and the series brought under our own notice conforms to the rule-have had a distribution of the lesions that clearly pointed to the intestine

REVIEWS. 155

as having been the path by which the bacilli had gained an entrance into the tissues. This is in marked contrast to the path of infection in man and in cattle, in which species the primary lesions are far more frequently located in the lungs. What can be the explanation of this? Clearly it is not that there is anything in the horse's lungs opposed to infection, for in a great many cases of equine tuberculosis these organs became secondarily affected. The better ventilation of stables as com­pared with byres, and the fact that horses as a rule spend a consider­able part of their time out of doors, may have something to do with the rarity of primary pulmonary lesions; but that, of course, would not explain the frequency of alimentary tuberculosis in the horse. Is it possible that the administration of cow's milk to horses is some­times the means of infecting them with tuberculosis? VvTe are not inclined to give a positive answer to this question, nor can we say that the suggestion is altogether improbable. Milk, we believe, is not rarely prescribed for sick and debilitated horses at the present time, and the possibility of infection in that way cannot be denied.

1. Die Fleischbeschauwesen im Deutschen Reiche nebst Vorschlagen fUr dessen gesetzliche Regelung. Von Dr Georg Schneidemiihl.

2. Ueber Immunitat und Schutzimpfung. Von Dr O. Lubarsch. Leipzig: Arthur Felix, 1892.

THE first of these two monographs forms Parts 9 and 10 of the Thier­lIledizinisdze Vortrage being published under the editorship of Dr Schneide­muhl, while the second forms Part I I of the same series.

Dr Schneidemiihl's article on " Meat Inspection," in point of interest and importance, is not second to any of its predecessors of the same series. As the author remarks in his preface, the importance of a properly regulated meat inspection is at the present day generally recognised, but every day experience teaches that opinion is still much divided regarding the best method of effecting this. Hitherto, when either layman, veterinary surgeon, or medical man who might feel interested in the subject desired to put himself in possession of information bearing on such matters as the erection of a public slaughter-house, or the institution of a system of meat inspection, he encountered great difficulty; for while much valuable material relating to these points is scattered up and down the pages of medical and veterinary journals, there was not in existence, prior to the appearance of the monograph now under review, any publication professing to deal exhaustively with the whole subject. Dr Schneidemuhl has removed this difficulty, so far at least as German readers are concerned. ·Within the compass of some eighty pages he treats of the history of meat inspection from the earliest times, the importance and necessity of public abattoirs, the erection and conduct of these, and the statutory regulation of the traffic in butcher meat. Needless to say, these matters are discussed mainly from a German point of view, but there is