108 THE MILK QUESTION 



eral weeks before the official tests are made. When 

 cows that are not tuberculous show an elevation of temper- 

 ature after an injection of tuberculin it is usually the result 

 of advanced pregnancy; excitement; inflammatory febrile 

 diseases; inclosure in a hot stuffy stable, expecially in 

 summer; or some change in the method of feeding, water- 

 ing, and stabling of the animal during the test. Many of 

 these errors are avoided by a skilled veterinarian. 



The following directions for making the tuberculin test 

 are given by Mohler: 



(1) Stable cattle under usual conditions and among 

 usual surroundings, feeding and watering in the customary 

 manner. 



(2) Make a physical examination of each animal, and 

 give to each one some designation by which the animal will 

 be known throughout the test. 



(3) Take each animal's temperature at least three times 

 at two or three hour intervals on the day of injection; for 

 instance, at 2, 5, and 8 P.M. 



(4) At 8 or 10 P.M. inject a dose of tuberculin under the 

 skin in the region of the shoulder, using a sterile hypodermic 

 syringe after disinfecting the skin at the seat of injection 

 with a five per cent solution of carbolic acid or a similar 

 antiseptic solution. 



(5) Tuberculin is not always concentrated to the same 

 degree, and therefore the dose, which should always appear 

 on the label, varies considerably. The dose of imported 

 tuberculin is 0.25 cubic centimetre for an adult cow, 

 and before injection is diluted with sterile water, 2 cubic 

 centimetres. The tuberculin made by the Bureau of 

 Animal Industry is prepared so that it will not be 

 necessary to dilute it, and the dose is 2 cubic centimetres 

 for an adult animal. Yearlings and two-year-olds, accord- 

 ing to size, should receive from 1 to 1.5 cubic centimetres, 

 while bulls and very large animals may receive 3 centi- 

 metres. 



