378 Tuberculosis 



reported, with careful details, 22 cases of tuberculosis which 

 he claims have been cured by it. 



Recently there has been a return to the use of tuberculin 

 for the diagnosis of tuberculosis, it being claimed that by the 

 use of minute doses, several times repeated, the charac- 

 teristic reaction and a positive diagnosis can be obtained 

 without danger. 



von Pirquet* found that if a drop or two of Koch's (old) 

 tuberculin is placed upon the skin of a tuberculous child, 

 and a small scarification made through the drop with a 

 sterile lancet, a small papule develops at the point of inocula- 

 tion that is not unlike a vaccine papule. It is at first bright, 

 later on dark red, and remains for a week. Out of 500 tests 

 made, the results were positive in nearly every case of 

 clinical tuberculosis. The most characteristic reactions 

 were obtained in tuberculosis of the bones and glands, and 

 the method is recommended chiefly for the diagnosis of 

 tuberculosis during the first year of life. This method of 

 testing is called the der mo -tuberculin reaction. 



A modification of this method by Lignieresf is called by 

 him the cuti-tuberculin reaction. Lignieres soaps and shaves 

 the skin with a safety razor, avoiding scarification, but 

 removing the superficial epidermal cells by scraping, and 

 then applies six large drops of undiluted tuberculin, rubbing 

 the reagent in with a pledget of cotton. The reaction 

 obtained is purely local and without fever. 



CalmetteJ has suggested a new method of applying the 

 tuberculin test that is both simple and accurate. It is 

 known as the. "ophthalmo -tuberculin reaction," and consists 

 of dropping one drop of a solution of prepared tuberculin 

 into the eye of the suspect. If no uberculosis exists, no 

 reaction follows, but if the patient be infected with tuber- 

 culosis, the eye becomes reddened in a few hours and soon 

 shows all of the appearances of a more or less pronounced 

 acute muco purulent inflammation of the conjunctiva. This 

 attains its maximum in six or seven hours, and entirely 

 recovers in three days. It is sometimes attended with 

 danger of corneal ulceration, though it usually causes the 

 patient very little discomfort. 



* "Berl. klin. Wochenschrift," May 20, 1907. 



f "Centralbl. f. Bakt. u. Parasitenk.," orig., XLVI, Hft. 4, March 10, 

 1908, p. 373. 



% "La Presse Medical e," June 19, 1907. 





