We are no longer permitted to include in the same description the tuberculosis of birds and that of mammals. Although the two bacilli, as far as form and color are concerned, are absolutely identical, the evolution of the two forms of tuberculosis presents characteristics so different that we are forced to study them separately. At this day the debate is a question of words, and experts discuss whether there are two distinct genera or merely two different species.
It is this characteristic of non-transmissibility from mammals to birds, and vice versa, which forms the chief difference between the two kinds of tuberculosis. Strauss failed in his endeavor to inoculate a fowl with tuberculosis by injecting fifty kilogrammes of tuberculous human sputa, whereas the fowl, absolutely impervious to human tuberculosis, became infected when treated with a very slight quantity of the avian tuberculosis. The guinea-pig, so sensitive to the human microbe, presented encysted abscesses when treated with the virus of birds; it dies of cachexia, but never, as far as the naked eye can discern, of generalized tuberculosis. Rabbits are more sensitive to the avian infection. Dogs are absolutely refractory. The monkey, so delicate in our climate, and which almost invariably perishes from tuberculosis, is uninjured by inoculation from avian virus. The parrot is a remarkable exception to the general rule; it is the only bird which resists avian tuberculosis, while, on the other hand, it is sensitive to that of man. Such facts as these irrefutably differentiate the two kinds of tuberculosis.
| [H] | Tuberculosis of Birds. | Tuberculosis of Mammals. |
| Aspect of cultures. | Extreme softness on glycerine jelly or on serum. | Human tuberculous growths are adherent, hard and difficult to break up even with a strong platinum wire on glycerine jelly as well as on serum. |
| Medium of cultures. | Transferred from a solid to a liquid medium the bacillus grows rapidly, having the appearance of rounded grains. | Cultivation more difficult. |
| Temperature. | Develops at a temperature of 45° C. | Ceases to develop at temperatures under 41° C. |
| Odor. | Somewhat sour. | More subtle and fresh odor. |
| Duration. | Takes longer to develop, and may remain for a year or thereabouts. | Is with difficulty generated again at the end of six months. At the end of eight or ten months loses its vegetable character. |
| Seat of the tubercles. | In animals usually on the liver, the spleen, the intestines, and the peritoneum. | In the lung, generally in men, and in certain animals; in the spleen, the liver, and the glands in rabbits and guinea-pigs. |
| Transmissibility. | Only from one bird to another, except in the case of the parrot. | Mammals are unaffected by the tuberculosis of birds, and vice versa. |
Ever since this variety of tuberculosis has been distinguished, attempts have been made to inoculate or cure human tuberculosis with that of birds. In our school the thing has been attempted at the Hôpital St. Jacques, where Aviaire has been administered in homœopathic dilutions, in potions or through punctures in cases of consumption. As a matter of fact, neither allopaths nor homœopaths have succeeded in obtaining a formula which will cure consumption with the virus of birds. Amelioration has been noted as with other remedies, but never a series of authenticated cures. Nevertheless, in every country experiments are continually being made; we must hope that they will end in a more decisive success than is at present the case.
Hoping to profit by the homœopathicity of an active virus, I was, I think, one of the first who employed Aviaire in non-tuberculous respiratory affections on the lines of Bacillinum, and I am bound to say that up to the present my faith in the law of similars has not been shaken by my experiments.
In L'Art Médical (August, 1895) I published a number of cases in which I successfully treated localized bronchitis, generally the result of influenza, and reproducing the symptoms of tuberculosis, with Aviaire. The most characteristic of all these observations is that of which I have spoken above. The patient was restored to health as if by magic with Aviaire within three weeks. Dr. P. Jousset, anticipating my observations, thus expressed himself in the number of L'Art Médical preceding the one which contained my remarks: "A young woman entered the Hôpital St. Jacques at the end of January, 1895, with feverish influenzal bronchitis. At first the patient was treated with small doses of Sulphate of Quinine, and a little later she took Ipecac and Bryonia alternately. The fever disappeared and the general condition improved considerably, and the sub-crepitant râles became confined to the top of the left lung. The patient continued to expectorate thick nummular and puriform sputa, as in the influenza. After some days the disease resumed its sway, the bodily forces diminished, the emaciation made great progress, and local and general signs indicated rapid consumption. Bacteriological analysis led to the detection of numerous Koch's bacilli. I gave over the case at this time, and some weeks afterwards I learnt with surprise that the patient was well and growing fat, and that the inoculation of the sputa had produced no effects. The cure has been maintained for three months, and the young woman has resumed her employment." I had prescribed Aviaire 100th, five drops a day, during the whole period of the disease, unaccompanied by any other remedy.
As I have said before, more than a year afterwards the young woman continued in good health.
Following this case, Dr. Jousset quoted two analogous instances in his practice, both of influential bronchitis, in which the sputa contained, for a certain period, Koch's bacillus. One was cured with Aviaire 6th and strong doses of Sulphate of Quinine, and the other with Aviaire 6th and twenty drops of Tincture of Drosera, a day.
"What conclusions must I draw from these facts?" says Dr. Jousset. "That the avian tuberculosis cured the consumption? I have failed too often in the treatment of ordinary consumption with this remedy to admit that." That is my opinion also.