396 BOAED OF AGPJCULTUEE. [Pub. Doc. 



ence in usino; tuberculin, as a diao^nostic aofent amons: neat 

 cattle, is universally and emphatically in its favor, there are 

 those who, upon the slightest sort of experience or upon theo- 

 retical grounds, or upon no grounds whatever, condemn it as 

 being so uncertain in its action that it is practically useless ; 

 and they advance the most senseless arguments to defend this 

 position, as, for example, "Koch, when he invented tubercu- 

 lin, did not intend it for this work, but as a cure for consump- 

 tion in human being^s " This is true; but when it w^as beino^ 

 •used for this purpose so largely, just after its discovery, it was 

 noticed that in every consumptive patient to wdiich the agent 

 was administered there was a decided rise in temperature after 

 a few hours. 



This fact was seized upon by Professor Gutman of the Vet- 

 erinary Institute of Dorpat, Russia, who experimented with the 

 asrent on cattle, and found the hiirh reaction in tubercular a7ii- 

 7nals to be fullv as constant ; since which time tuberculin has 

 been used with almost uniform satisfaction in the detection of 

 tuberculosis in cattle. "Bollinger says tuberculin is a most 

 valuable aid to diagnosis in the case of cattle suspected of tuber- 

 culosis." (London Veterinary Journal, February, 1891.) 



Satisfactory results have been reported by the imperial sani- 

 tary office of Berlin, by the Toulouse Veterinary School and by 

 the Copenhagen Veterinary School. 



The Beliiium minister of ao'riculture issued a circular Nov. 

 22, 1892, giving official sanction to test inoculation for tuber- 

 culosis. Professor Dukerhorf says : " The results are absolute 

 and gratifying, and show that tuberculin is a reliable agent for 

 determining the presence of tuberculosis in cattle." (Journal 

 Comparative Medicine, October, 1892, page 637.) 



The conclusions arrived at by the Paris Congress of 1893 for 

 the study of tuberculosis were: "That, notwithstanding the 

 negative results, which are happily very rare, it is an undeni- 

 able fact that the use of tuberculin constitutes by far the best 

 means of detecting the existence of tuberculosis in the domestic 

 animals." (Page 411, F. Journal, December, 1893.) 



The value of tuberculin as a diagnostic agent in our own country 

 is vouched for by the Bureau of Animal Industry, Professor Law 

 of Cornell, Professor Pierson of the University of Pennsylvania, 

 Drs. Peters, Faust and Cooper Curtis, inspectors for the New 



