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Human and bovine tuberculosis
PUBLIG HEALTH: 3ournai ot the 3ncorporate ociet fll)e ical Officcra of 1health. VoL. XV.
No. 17.
of
SEPTEMBER, 1903.
EDITORIALS. HUMAN AND BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS. WE are glad to be able to present the members of the society with a reprint of Professor D. J. Hamilton's able oontribution on the identity of human and bovine tuberculosis. Undertaken in conjunction with Mr. McLauchlan Young, the experiments have proved the fallacy of Professor Koch's reckless statement at the Congress on Tuberculosis in 1901. Many members having expressed their desire to possess the paper in full, Professor Hamilton kindly obtained the consent of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, in whose Transactions it first appeared, to it being reprinted in Pc~Lic H~AL~m Some criticisms have been made with reference to the methods employed and the conclusions arrived at, but a perusal of the complete paper will convince the careful reader that Professor Hamilton has completely proved his case. The validity of the experiments and the soundness of the conclusions are being proved by observers ai home and abroad. Workers at the Lister (late the Jenner) Institute of Preventive Medicine, and others in France, in Germany, and in America, have confirmed Professor Hamilton's results in every respect. At the forthcoming Congress of Hygiene in Brussels the results of an extended investigatioa will be presented by Dr. G. Gratia, Professor in the State School of Veterinary Medicine at Cureghem. Professor Gratia has made experiments with both tuberculous matter of both human and bovine origin on oxen, monkeys, goats, and pigs. He concludes that human tuberculosis and that of domestic animals are one and the same, and although, from the nature of the environment, there may be some modifications of the organism, 46
686
V e n t i l a t i o n of F a c t o r i e s , etc.
tPuu~o Health
such modifications are not absolute or permanent. For the sake of convenience, human, bovine, and avian varieties may be recognised, but such classification is quite artificial, for even in animals of the same species differences may exist. He considers that avian tuberculosis is not very dangerous to animals; but while animal tubercle is more easily conveyed from one animal to another of the same species, it must be regarded as a danger to all, and may be communicated both in meat and in milk. See,ing how much has already been accomplished by private investigation, it is a matter for some surprise and regret that the commission appointed by the British Government have not been able to publish any results of their work.
PROPOSED STANDARDS FOR VENTILATION OF FACTORIES AND WORKSHOPS. On July 13th, 1900, the then Home Secretary (the Right Hen. H. W. Ridley, i~I.P.) appointed a Departmental Committee, consisting of Dr. John Scott Haldane, F.R.S., and i~[r. E. H. Osborn, Engineering Adviser to the Chief Inspector of Factories, together with Mr. C. R. Pendock, Factory Inspector, as Secretary, to inquire into and report upon (a) the means of ventilation in factories and workshops, with especial reference to the use of fans; (b) the use and construction of respirators for the protection of workpeople exposed to dust or dangerous fumes. The first report of this Committee was presented to both Houses of Parliament in the autumn of last year, and contains on p. 5 a series of recommendations which, if adopted, will, it is to be feared, affect the health of the very large number of workers in factories and workshops by allowing them to work under conditions which, from a point of ventilation or want of ventilation, will prove most unsatisfactory. Reference to the classical works on ventilation by Parkes, De Chaumont, Pettenkofer, and others, shows that, taking the carbonic acid present in living rooms and workplaees as a fair index of the amount of deleterious organic matter also present, it may be laid down as an axiom that 6 parts of carbonic acid per 10,000 of air is a limit beyond which the air of rooms in which people live and work should not be allowed to become contaminated, and that any excess of carbonic acid (as an index of organic impurities) beyond such
No. 17.
of
SEPTEMBER, 1903.
EDITORIALS. HUMAN AND BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS. WE are glad to be able to present the members of the society with a reprint of Professor D. J. Hamilton's able oontribution on the identity of human and bovine tuberculosis. Undertaken in conjunction with Mr. McLauchlan Young, the experiments have proved the fallacy of Professor Koch's reckless statement at the Congress on Tuberculosis in 1901. Many members having expressed their desire to possess the paper in full, Professor Hamilton kindly obtained the consent of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, in whose Transactions it first appeared, to it being reprinted in Pc~Lic H~AL~m Some criticisms have been made with reference to the methods employed and the conclusions arrived at, but a perusal of the complete paper will convince the careful reader that Professor Hamilton has completely proved his case. The validity of the experiments and the soundness of the conclusions are being proved by observers ai home and abroad. Workers at the Lister (late the Jenner) Institute of Preventive Medicine, and others in France, in Germany, and in America, have confirmed Professor Hamilton's results in every respect. At the forthcoming Congress of Hygiene in Brussels the results of an extended investigatioa will be presented by Dr. G. Gratia, Professor in the State School of Veterinary Medicine at Cureghem. Professor Gratia has made experiments with both tuberculous matter of both human and bovine origin on oxen, monkeys, goats, and pigs. He concludes that human tuberculosis and that of domestic animals are one and the same, and although, from the nature of the environment, there may be some modifications of the organism, 46
686
V e n t i l a t i o n of F a c t o r i e s , etc.
tPuu~o Health
such modifications are not absolute or permanent. For the sake of convenience, human, bovine, and avian varieties may be recognised, but such classification is quite artificial, for even in animals of the same species differences may exist. He considers that avian tuberculosis is not very dangerous to animals; but while animal tubercle is more easily conveyed from one animal to another of the same species, it must be regarded as a danger to all, and may be communicated both in meat and in milk. See,ing how much has already been accomplished by private investigation, it is a matter for some surprise and regret that the commission appointed by the British Government have not been able to publish any results of their work.
PROPOSED STANDARDS FOR VENTILATION OF FACTORIES AND WORKSHOPS. On July 13th, 1900, the then Home Secretary (the Right Hen. H. W. Ridley, i~I.P.) appointed a Departmental Committee, consisting of Dr. John Scott Haldane, F.R.S., and i~[r. E. H. Osborn, Engineering Adviser to the Chief Inspector of Factories, together with Mr. C. R. Pendock, Factory Inspector, as Secretary, to inquire into and report upon (a) the means of ventilation in factories and workshops, with especial reference to the use of fans; (b) the use and construction of respirators for the protection of workpeople exposed to dust or dangerous fumes. The first report of this Committee was presented to both Houses of Parliament in the autumn of last year, and contains on p. 5 a series of recommendations which, if adopted, will, it is to be feared, affect the health of the very large number of workers in factories and workshops by allowing them to work under conditions which, from a point of ventilation or want of ventilation, will prove most unsatisfactory. Reference to the classical works on ventilation by Parkes, De Chaumont, Pettenkofer, and others, shows that, taking the carbonic acid present in living rooms and workplaees as a fair index of the amount of deleterious organic matter also present, it may be laid down as an axiom that 6 parts of carbonic acid per 10,000 of air is a limit beyond which the air of rooms in which people live and work should not be allowed to become contaminated, and that any excess of carbonic acid (as an index of organic impurities) beyond such