EIGHTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART X. 603 



103 Fahr. should be tested with tuberculin, as this temperature taay be 

 considered indicative of some disturbed condition of the body which will 

 interfere with testing and possibly lead to wrong deductions from the 

 test. Having set down the three preliminary temperature readings to 

 determine the normal temperature before testing, the tuberculin is to be 

 injected at 9 or 10 p. m. of the same day. 



The customary dose of tuberculin is two cubic centimeters, or half a 

 cubic centimeter for each 500 pounds of live weight. It is well to increase 

 the dose for heavy cattle in the ratio indicated, a ton bull taking four 

 cubic centimeters but no animal (adult) taking less than two cubic centi- 

 meters. It also is a good plan to give all suspicious appearing animals 

 an extra large dose, as it is a well proved fact that the more infection 

 from tuberculosis there is in an animal the less may be the reaction or 

 rise in temperature following the use of tuberculin. Indeed an animal 

 may be so thoroughly impregnated with the bacilli of the disease that 

 tuberculin has no effect, but in all such cases the experienced veterinarian 

 should be able confidently to determine the presence of the disease by 

 physical examination. 



The method of injection is simply to insert the hollow needle in the 

 thin skin of the animal's neck or back of the shoulder; then, making sure 

 that the point of the needle is free from the tissues underlying the skin, 

 slowly inject the tuberculin. The needle, syringe and skin should be 

 perfectly cleansed before operating. 



Next day, commencing at 6 o'clock, the temperature of each cow should 

 be taken every two hours and set down on the chart opposite the pre- 

 liminary temperatures of the previous day. The cows need not be fed or 

 watered until all of the necessary temperatures have been taken, but they 

 should have been fully fed and watered just before or after the injection 

 of tuberculin the night before, and some practitioners believe in allowing 

 a little feed and a swallow or two of water after taking the first morning 

 temperature. The cows are to be kept in the stable until the test is 

 complete. 



If a cow's temperature the next morning after injecting tuberculin is 

 found to have risen one and one-half degrees above the normal tem- 

 perature of the previous day, to have stayed up for some time and then 

 gradually declined to the normal temperature, she is to be considered 

 "suspicious" and should be held for a retest in three months. 



If a cow's temperature rises two or more degrees above normal in the 

 same manner as that just indicated she is to be considered tuberculous 

 and dealt with accordingly, but unless she is physically affected or has 

 tubercular hardening of the udder she should be isolated and tested again 

 in three months. Only those animals which react decidedly and at the 

 same time are quite evidently diseased should be slaughtered or shipped 

 to the city for slaughter under government inspection, but all reacting 

 cattle should be kept separate from the well cattle and their milk should 

 not be used for man, beast or poultry. 



Reliable tuberculin affords us a safe and fairly certain means of 

 detecting the presence of the disease and there is already considerable 

 data to prove that the new method of inocculating against tuberculosis as 

 proposed by VonBehring is a success. 



