The relations of the diseases of animals to those of man.

  • International Congress of Hygiene and Demography.
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The relations of the diseases of animals to those of man. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    country from the fearful visitation of the cattle plague. Our insular position affords us exceptional facilities for keeping away from these shores diseases which on the continent of Europe are enzootic ; on the other hand, the enormous supplies required by this country, necessitating the importation of cattle from both Europe and America, expose us daily to infection. Our port inspection and quarantine methods are entirely to be thanked for the exclusion of such diseases as cattle plague, sheep-pox, and lung plague. Owing to the difficulty of diagnosis, cases of the latter no doubt escape detection, but on the whole our port inspection is excellently performed, and the public has but a faint notion of the value of the work carried out and the jealous watch unremittingly kept over the agricultural and public welfare. Meat and milk inspection is a special branch of Veterinary Hygiene j we do not for one moment pretend to say what food is suitable for human consumption, this obviously falls to the share of medical officers of health, but we can speak with certainty as to the condition of the animal furnishing the meat, and the state of health of the cow. It is clear that here Human and Veterinary Hygiene overlap; we meet on a common platform, we each have our clearly defined sphere in the matter, and it is certain that meat and milk inspections can only be efficiently performed where the two professions combine in the whole work of guarding the public health. It would be a false position for the Veterinary Hygienist to state that such and such food was fit for consumption ; he can say in the case of meat that the appearance was that of perfect health, or that the change, if any, had caused no important alteration in the tissues ; with the medical officer alone must rest the responsibility of rejecting or passing it; the same argument applies to milk; we can say that the animal presents no sign of disease, that local or other ailments are in our opinion of an unimportant nature; obviously, we cannot decide as to whether the milk is fit for food, any more than the medical officer can assert that the local conditions we regard as trifling are to be taken in a serious light. The last branch of Special Veterinary Hygiene, to which I will only briefiy allude at the present moment, is the production of animal lymph for the purpose of human vaccinations; here, again, we meet the medical officer on a common platform. In the abstract, we know nothing of vaccination as a protection against small-i^ox, but as Veterinary Surgeons we do know cow-pox; we understand the best conditions under which it can be cultivated, know exactly at what period the most suitable lymph for the human subject can be removed, and have a clear com- prehension of the feeding, management, and handling of the animals employed in its cultivation. Briefiy, therefore, these are the aims and scope of Veterinary Hygiene; we seek to make ourselves of use to the public in many varied capacities; we can advise the breeder on the selection of stock, the Government on the soundness of its horses, and on their management and care; the large and small horse owner on the feeding and general management of his stud; the farmer on the prevention of disease amongst