61 



prove more reliable than the subcutaneous tests. We have not 

 hesitated to condemn cattle upon this test alone. Its accuracy 

 depends larg;ely upon the care in making the injection. We found 

 that unless extreme care was used, the injection would not be 

 properly made. In any animal with a bad history we injected 

 both caudal folds. Age, pregnancy, recent parturition, excitement 

 and weather, conditions seemed to cut no figure with the test. 

 Using it the veterinarian can do his work in daylight and does 

 not have to wade about in filthy barns during the night. In 

 making the tests around Columbia our men would ride all day, 

 stop at different places, making the injections, and tagging the 

 cattle. Anywhere from forty-eight hours to four or five days 

 thereafter (usually on the second day) a re-examination of the 

 same cattle is made with a view to recording the results of the 

 injections. A little swelling sometimes follows from the insertion 

 of the needle, but usually disappeared by the end of forty-eight 

 hours. The swelling as a result of tuberculin reaction is usually 

 well marked by that time and persists for about a week. As far 

 as our observations have gone, there is a little uneasiness and 

 switching of the tail noticed in tuberculous animals, beginning 

 a few hours after the injection. There is exfoliation of the 

 epithelium as the reaction disappears.' '' 



From the January number of the American \'eterinary Review 

 it appears that the Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industrv has 

 carried out the promised experiments with the intra-dermal test, 

 as follows : 



"The morning following '"'- '"'- * held in store for the visit- 

 ing veterinarians '^ '■' * the inspection at the stock yards of 

 about 140 head of cattle that had previously been tested under 

 the direction of Dr. Mohler with the ophthalmic and intra-dermal 

 methods, — a golden opportunity for studying the relative value of 

 the two tests in question, and also their relative value as compared 

 with the present (subcutaneous) tuberculin test." Unfortunately 

 the results are not given in this number, but I have communicated 

 with Dr. IMohler and asked for an advance copy of the report on 

 the subject. Another paper, entitled. "The Xewer Methods of 

 Tuberculin Testing," by Dr. K. F. Meyer, director of the Penn- 

 svlvania Live Stock Sanitarv Laboratorv. has also been sent for. 



Very respectfully 



\^ICTOR A. NORGAARP, 



Territorial A'eterinarian. 



