The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 14.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 20 February 1914, Page 2

The Chronicle PUBLISHED DAILY. LEVIN FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 14.

Two schools of though! eonieiid in medical circles over the question of luberculosis coniamina-

lion. Some doctors allege thai animal tuberculosis is not communicable to human beings; it is quite a distinct variety iroin that which afflicts mankind, they say. Others give specific cases wherein the disease allegedly "is" communicated. "Where doctors differ, who shall decide ?" se-t-ms a peculiarly apropos question at this stage. Meanwhile u little light is thrown on the matter by a Kentish doctor who keeps a farm for purposes of investigation. In an English newspaper we read Unit on a recent Sunday Mr lioheri Mond, son of the lat'e Dr. inuhvig Mond, conducted a representative of The Times over his experimental farm at Coombe Bank, .Sevenoaks, and entered upon an exposition of the views wheih he had formed after a series of investiga-

tions extending over many years as to the relationship between milk and tuberculosis. The investigations were conducted both at his farm and at the Infants" Hospital, Vincent Square, S.W., founded by him and supplied with milk from (Joombe JJank, and pointed to the conclusion that tuberculosis was nol conveyed by j milk from cattle to human beings", i Children fed upon milk of cows I which subsequently were found to j be suffering from tuberculosis had j not—and investigations were made in a large number of cases - contracted the disease. (Ju the other hand, at the Infants" Hospital a large number of those child-

ren who were known to have beei

fed exclusively from birlh upon .sterilized or condensed milk— which, of course, could be-guaran-teed tubercle-free --- developed tuberculosis of the bovine Those children were always weak j and ill-nourished and it was suggested that this might arise through having been fed upon a boiled as against a fresh diet. As a control experiment a number of kittens were obtained and fed exclusively upon sterilized milk. They all died within a fortnight. Mr ALond was so much impressed by the fate of the kittens that he obtained some tuberculous cows, and by the way of putting his theory to the test' drank some of the milk himself. In his own expression he "thrived on it.'' He added: "1 should not have dared to use (hat milk sterilized. They take healthy children into creches, feed them on sterilized milk, and make them ill. Were it not for the unsterilized cream they add to the milk, the children would die.'" It was curious, lie .said, that the advocates of sterilization had overlooked Imtter, which was every whit as likely to be contaminated as milk. The fad was that butter saved tinunfortunates condemned to live upon boiled milk. .Milk wa,s a livng food intended by nature for immediate consumption. If boiled it was chemically changed and lost its nutritive value. if exposed at ordinary temperatures ii turned acid, and became- ■

''well something Ilia I is nut milk."' In this siate it could not be digested easily, and was almost as dangerous as when boiled. Tainted milk was responsible for the epidemics of summer cholera amongst children. The hist essential was refrigeration, which maintained the milk in its original state and so ensured to it its full food value. Mi , Alond showed how at a very small expense he had converted an ordinary farm steading into a thoroughly clean ;in<l liv.uenic dairy. Any fanner could do this.