488 HORSE, SWINE AND POULTRY DISEASES 



difficult, if not impossible, to obtain trustworthy temperatures of 

 hogs. 



The dose of tuberculin used was estimated on a basis of y 2 c. c. 

 for each hundredweight, or fraction thereof, of the weight of the 

 animals tested. For instance, a pig weighing 75 to 100 pounds 

 would receive % c. c. of tuberculin, while one weighing 150 to 

 200 pounds would receive 1 c. c. The injections were made directly 

 under the skin at the inner surface of the thigh, and in no instance 

 were any harmful results noted following the puncture. 



For a practical tuberculin test it has been found sufficient to 

 have the temperature of the hogs taken every two hours from 8 

 a. m. to 6 p. m., inclusive, on the day of injection, and at the 

 same hours on the day following, with the tuberculin injection 

 made at 10 p. m. on the first day. The temperature before injec- 

 tion should be taken as frequently as after injection, and at cor- 

 responding hours, because of the very erratic character of the tem- 

 perature of hogs and because of the slight circumstances that may 

 inadvertently be the cause of marked variations. It should es- 

 pecially be borne in mind that the value of the results obtained 

 depends entirely upon keeping the hogs absolutely quiet during 

 the whole of the test, and this point may be more readily gained 

 if the animals are kept in their crates for twelve hours at least 

 before the first temperature is taken. 



In reaching a decision as to the presence of tuberculosis in a 

 hog, as shown by the temperature readings, it is somewhat unsafe 

 to base a condemnation upon the comparison of the maximum 

 reading before injection with the maximum of the day following, but 

 by averaging the temperatures for each of the two days during which 

 they have been taken one is enabled to reach very satisfactory con- 

 clusions by comparing thase averages. It is essential that the tem- 

 peratures should be taken at corresponding hours on each day of 

 the test, if results are to be determined by means of averages. By 

 this method it was found in a test experiment with 68 hogs that 

 only two failures (less than 3 per cent) occurred. In these tests 

 no hog was condemned as tuberculous until it had shown a per- 

 sistent average elevation of temperature of 1 F. throughout the 

 second day. In the two failures mentioned one tuberculous hog 

 failed to react, and another animal gave a reaction, but at post- 

 mortem examination no tubercular lesions could be found. 



A report has been received from Doctor Luckey, State veter- 

 inarian of Missouri, w r hich shows that hogs may be tested satisfac- 

 torily and to good advantage with tuberculin if handled quietly 

 and kept so closely confined that no chasing or driving will be 

 necessary at the time of taking temperatures. 



As a proof that carefully bred pedigreed swine are not neces- 

 sarily more susceptible to tuberculosis than the more common 

 varieties, mention is made in the Veterinary Journal of the testing 

 with tuberculin of a number of purebred animals intended for ex- 

 port to Finland. The temperature of each pig, which was num- 

 bered for identification, was carefully taken, the average for the 



