678 EXPEEIMENT STATION KECORD. 



plied, will give a more pronounced local reaction than is obtained with tuber- 

 culin, better results are to be expected in glanders than in tuberculosis. As 

 a result of some preliminary experiments with " mallein brute" of the Pasteur 

 Institute and some similar preparations made in the author's laboratory for 

 the eye test, it was decided to use a preparation like " mallein siccum," pre- 

 pared according to Foth's specifications," which is described. A preparation 

 of this kind contains more specific antigens than the usual malleins, and is 

 consequently of value for detecting especially occult cases of glanders. In the 

 original article the technique for applying the reaction is given in detail. 

 The reaction usually remains visible for from 12 to 36 hours after the appli- 

 cation of the biologic product, but for this there is no absolute rule, since it 

 has been present only 6 hours after one test and in other instances it remained 

 visible for 72 hours. 



The atyiDical (Schniirer) reactions were found to occur not uncommonly, 

 " viz, the conjunctival test appears and disappears suddenly, or the reaction 

 is distinct only after 24 hours." In a sensitized eye the reaction was found 

 to be more legible than in an nnsensitized one. 



From the records of about 400 healthy horses, it was shown that a con- 

 junctival test does not sensitize so long as the animal is not affected with 

 glanders. Several of the horses were tested 3 and 4 times. " Differing from 

 the tuberculin test, the retest can be applied 24 hours after the first applica- 

 tion, a very decided advantage under present conditions of city veterinary 

 sanitary police, where in large stables a final decision is immediately desired. 

 In most cases in which the first reaction was doubtful, a distinct or negative 

 result was seen after the second test. Still, in 2 horses, which probably 

 were in the stage of incubation, no reaction was obtained in either test. All 

 observations stand in correlation with similar ones of Miessner, Schniirer, etc. 



"In many stables all horses, including reacting (occult) ones, were retested 

 a third time after 14 days, for the purpose of detecting such animals as were 

 in the stage of incubation at the first and second tests, and of excluding the 

 possibility of a simulated reaction in the reacting horses. Only when this 

 third conjunctival test again gave negative results were the horses considered 

 to be free from glanders. On making this third test, and in 1 stable after a 

 fourth and a fifth test, it was observed that the degree of reaction became less 

 and less distinct. Only a slight conjunctivitis was noted in animals which at 

 first gave classic reactions. For these reasons more than 3 retests should not 

 be applied. The mallein probably does not cause accumulation of leucocytes, 

 and therefore no inflammatory process, on account of the adaption of the cells 

 to the biochemic changes or on account of absence of complement concentration." 



The author coincides with Frohner (E. S. R., 27, p. 578) in regard to pre- 

 ferring the ophthalmic test to the complement fixation and agglutination tests 

 on account of the earlier positive results which it records. " Many horses were 

 tested by the subcutaneous method and afterward by the ophthalmic method, 

 and in no instance was a reaction noted when the horse was not infected with 

 glanders. The ophthalmic test in most of the experimental cases followed the 

 subcutaneous one in the next 24 hours. In several instances 10 to 24 days 

 elapsed before an ophthalmic test was made, and still no reaction was noted. 

 In our experience the subcutaneous test does not influence a subsequent con- 

 junctival test applied in the next 24 hours, a point which may be of great 

 assistance to the practitioner. In an easy manner a doubtful temperature 

 reaction can be checked by the ophthalmic test. . . . 



" The results show that of 210 horses. 58 were found by means of the com- 

 plement fixation test to be suffering from glanders. The interpretation of this 



"Ztschr. Tlermed., 15 (1911), No. 6, pp. 401^18. 



