486 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Sterilization of Utensils. 



Before preparing the vaccine, all the utensils, together with the 

 syringe, must be sterilized thoroughly. This is done by putting 

 the mortar, pestle, measuring glass, funnel and needles in a pan of 

 cold water, placing all over the fire. After boiling for ten minutes, 

 the pan with the contents should be allowed to cool off slowly; 

 then remove the utensils from the water and wipe them dry with 

 a clean linen cloth which has been previously boiled. When the 

 vaccine has been prepared, the utensils should be cleansed thor- 

 oughly and replaced in the box. After injection, the syringe and 

 needles must be washed with a five per cent, solution of carbolic 

 acid, carefully wiped, and the brass wire adjusted in the needles. 



Preparation of the Vaccine. 



Place the contents of one packet of the vaccine in a porcelain 

 mortar and add a few drops of boiled water. (The water must 

 have been previously boiled and allowed to cool.) Work the 

 powder thoroughly with the pestle, and then add, little by little, as 

 many cubic centimeters of water as the packet contains doses. As 

 the syringe contains exactly five cubic centimeters, it may be used 

 for measuring the water. A packet containing ten doses of the 

 vaccine should be dissolved in two syringes full of water, and one 

 containing twenty-five doses in five syringes full. Care should be 

 taken that the syringe is full every time. To filter the vaccine, 

 place the wooden, box on end, as shown in fig. 1, and adjust the 

 wire loop in the two eyelets. Place in the funnel a small piece of 

 absorbent cotton, and press it lightly into the upper end of the 

 neck, sufficient to keep it in place ; moisten the cotton with a few 

 drops of boiled water, and let it drip off. Stir the mixture in the 

 mortar thoroughly, and, before it has had time to settle, pour it 

 into the funnel under which the measuring glass has been placed. 

 The solution should not be perfectly clear. If this is the case, the 

 cotton has been pressed too closely into the neck of the funnel. 

 The straining is done simply to prevent the coarser parts of the 

 powder, which are suspended in the solution, from clogging up the 

 needle when the vaccine is injected ; and, as the effectiveness of 

 the vaccine depends upon the number of attenuated spores in the 

 solution, it is obvious that a perfectly clear solution can not be as 

 effective as one which is cloudy. It is, therefore, of the greatest 

 importance that much time and care be spent in grinding the vac- 

 cine powder as fine as possible before the bulk of the water is 

 added, as otherwise the greater part of the germ-carrying particles 



