184 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 



Dr. Russell : In the human it is curable, but in the bovine 

 and in the hog almost incurable. Tuberculosis will remain for 

 years and years, even though it may be latent, but it will work 

 out when conditions become unfavorable. 



Say that five out of twenty react, then you test them again 

 in sixty days and you find three out of twenty react, two have 

 ceased to respond ; that is when it has been walled off in the body 

 of the animal. The reaction is due to the fact that the tuber- 

 culin is dissembled through the body. If this walling off pro- 

 cess has been shut off you would not get a response. You would 

 assume it was a cure, and then if you killed the animal you 

 would find out your mistake. It might go on for months and 

 possibly a year. We find that tuberculosis passes from the la- 

 tent to the acute form after the animal has dropped her calf. 



Member : You referred to a proper test ; what is a proper 

 test for the application of tuberculin? 



Dr. Russell : The temperature of a human being at nor- 

 mal is 98.6; it fluctuates from one to two degrees higher in the 

 bovine. It is, therefore, impossible for us to rely upon one 

 single temperature. You will find some people have done that 

 and made a mistake and assumed one temperature represented 

 the normal. The temperature of the cow may fluctuate from 

 one hundred to a hundred and one or even a hundred and two. 

 That necessitates the taking of a number of temperatures be- 

 fore you inject the tuberculin ; that number should not be less 

 than four at intervals of two hours apart. Let me describe the 

 mode : 



I should begin by dinner time, take it at 12:00 noon, at 

 2:00, 4:00 and 6:00 in the afternoon, make the injection at 

 8 :oo in the evening for the reason that it takes from eight to 

 ten hours after the tuberculin is introduced before there is any 

 response. If you made that injection at noon you would have 

 to be up all night working in the dark. If you made it at 8:00 

 in the evening you could go to bed and stay until 4:00 o'clock 

 the next morning. There will be no rise for about eight hours 



