APPLICATION OF THE TUBERCULIN TEST. 77 



make trouble between the retailer and the producer. Due 

 warning obviates the difficulty. 



Application of the tuberculin test. In the earlier days when 

 the tuberculin test was in the experimental stage, it was cus- 

 tomary to take a series of normal temperatures of the cows 

 during the whole day preceding the injection of tuberculin. 

 The data thus obtained permitted the plotting of temperatures, 

 before and after injection, in a most convincing way. The con- 

 finement of the cows for the day for taking these temperatures 

 interferes greatly with the secretion of milk and entails much 

 extra work. These circumstances furnish a strong incentive 

 for decreasing the number of these " normal " temperatures. 

 In practice, veterinarians take about two temperatures before 

 injecting, merely to establish the fact that the animal is not in 

 a febrile condition. 



Temporary numbers. The identification of the cows during 

 the test is satisfactorily accomplished by painting numbers on 

 the rump with green paint. The numbers will, in a few cases, 

 be smudged before drying and the difficulty from this may be 

 obviated by numbering all the cows in duplicate. 



Facilitating observations of temperatures. The observation 

 of temperatures may be expedited by the use of several ther- 

 mometers simultaneously. When more than one thermometer 

 is used the risk of breakage necessitates attaching the ther- 

 mometer to the cow by a string. Special ring top veterinary 

 thermometers on the market facilitate tying a string to the 

 thermometer. N The human clinical thermometer may have a 

 string attached to it through the medium of a rubber band 

 firmly wrapped around the top. There is attached to the other 

 end of a six-inch string a pair of dog-tooth clasps. When the 

 thermometer is inserted in the rectum, the clasp is attached 

 either to a firm concretion of manure on the hair or to the 

 skin, which latter however is liable to cause kicking. 



Nervous cows will greatly delay the work by resisting the in- 

 sertion of the thermometer. This may be obviated by enlisting 

 the services of one of the milkers to stand at one side and pat the 

 cow on the back. Quiet, businesslike work, with the minimum 

 of delay and excitement of the cow, must always be kept in mind. 



