VETERINARY SCIENCE AND PRACTICE. 811 



American, and Italian authors is reviewed with considerable detail and with apparent 

 fairness. At the conclusion of the author's special criticism of these various articles 

 it is stated that the main question at issue regarding the identity of tuberculosis in 

 man and cattle is still unsettled. 



Tlie British Congress on Tuberculosis, G. T. Bkown (Jour. Bdth and WeM and 

 Southern Counties Soc. [Englandl, 4- ser., 12 {1902), j^p- 4J-'>-). — A brief review of the 

 more important papers which were read at this congress. The author expresses the 

 lielief that tuberculosis may be effectively combated in both man and animals. 



On tuberculosis in cattle with special reference to the virulence of the milk 

 of tuberculous cows, K. J. McWeeney {.hmr. Dept. Aijr. and Tech. //(.s/r., Ireland, 

 2 {1902), Xu. 4, pp- 662-675). — The author reviews the question of the infectiousness 

 of the milk of tuberculous cows in connection with a bibliography of 34 titles. In 

 his opinion it is desirable that tuberculous cows be divided, for purposes of experi- 

 mentation and discussion, into 3 classes: Those which show clinical symptoms of 

 tuberculosis, those which are affected with tuberculosis of the udder, and those 

 which react to tuberculin l)ut show no clinical symptoms of the disease. The 

 author's experiments were made with 5 cows of the third class. It is believed that 

 more than half of all the cows of Germany and Great Britain l)elong to this class. 

 The udders of the 5 cows were carefully cleaned before milking, and after the milk 

 was collected it was passed through a centrifuge; the sediment collected at the l)ottom 

 was then used for inoculating guinea ])igs, a quantity of the cream being inoculated 

 into the opjiosite side of each experimental animal at the same time. The total 

 number of experiments thus performed was 23, and no case of tuberculosis developed 

 in the experimental animals. Seven other animals were inoculated with mixed milk 

 from tuberculous animals, with the same result. The results of these experiments 

 are in accord with those of Ostertag, who was likewise unable to find tubercle bacilli 

 in the milk of cows which merely reacted to tuberculin but which did not give evi- 

 dence of clinical symptoms. The method of comlniting tuberculosis recommended 

 b}- the author is the system devised by Bang. 



The nature of the tuberculin reaction, K. Pkeisich and P. IlEi^r ( Centhl. Bakt. 

 V. Par., 1. Alt., 31 {1902), No. 14, Orig., pp. 7i,^-75^).— The recent literature relative 

 to tuberculin tests is reviewed in connection with a bibliography of the subject. 

 Experiments were instituted for the purpose of obtaining evidence on the question 

 whether the tuberculin reaction absolutely required the presence of tuberculosis in 

 the experimental animals, and whether the presence of products of the tubercle 

 bacillus was necessary in order to obtain a reaction to tuberculin or whether other 

 substances formed under the influence of the tubercle bacillus could give rise i > a 

 reaction to tuberculin. 



The first experiments were with guinea pigs, but it was found that tlie body tem- 

 perature in these animals varied too greatly. Rabbits were found to maintain a 

 more constant temperature in health and were therefore chosen as more suitable for 

 the purposes of these experiments. One series of experiments was conducted during 

 which collodion sacs containing cultures of tubercle bacilli were placed in the peri- 

 toneal cavity of healthy rabbits. This operation was found to be a difficult one, since 

 the collodion sacs were frequently ruptured and the animals thus became infected 

 with tuberculosis. In the few cases in which the operations were successful and 

 typical reaction to \ iberculin occurred without the presence of an infection of tuber- 

 culosis in experimental animals, this reaction is explained as being due to some sub- 

 stance produced by the growth of the tubercle bacilli in the collodion sacs and 

 subsequently distributed in the experimental animals by diffusion through the col- 

 lodion sacs. 



Another long series of experiments was undertaken on rabbits during which the 

 action of tuberculin in connection with other materials was tested. The materials 

 used along with the tulierculin included tuberculous glands, spleen, liver, and other 



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