128 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



The establishment of the diagnosis of tuberculosis in living 

 animals will receive a far greater importance since the enact- 

 ment of the new imperial live stock sanitary laws. According 

 to paragraph ten of this law it is compulsory to report all cases 

 of tuberculosis, which have been diagnosed by a physical exam- 

 ination, and especially all advanced cases of lung, udder, intes- 

 tinal and uterus tuberculosis. Inasmuch as the bacteriological 

 examination of the udder, uterus and intestine is not a difficult 

 one, this is not always the case for the bacteriological examina- 

 tion of lung tuberculosis in cattle. The reason for this is that 

 the necessary material for a positive diagnosis can be easily 

 secured from the udder, uterus and intestine, while on the con- 

 trary the material from the lungs is secured with difficulty. On 

 account of the many differences which have been encountered 

 many suggestions have been made. Of these the method sug- 

 gested by Poel has given the best results, and sems to have the 

 least objections. It consists in taking the material direct from 

 the trachea and bronchial tubes. According to the experiments 

 of Neuhouse we are convinced that the material taken from the 

 lung is best obtained with a cotton swab fastened to a wire 

 which is pushed through the canula of a trocar, which has been 

 inserted into the trachea and the swab is then pushed down to 

 the bifurcation of the lungs. The important feature for us was 

 first the construction of a suitable canula, so constructed that 

 it could be easily inserted through the walls of the trachea and 

 the surrounding tissue without first using the knife to remove 

 a part of the trachea. The canula which answered these 

 requirements was described by us in the Zeitschrift fur Hygiene 

 und Infections krankheiten der Haustiere (Nr. 5-19 11 seite 332). 

 It was also necessary to find a suitable wire on which to carry 

 the cotton swab into the trachea. This wire must be very fine 

 and of medium elasticity and flexibility so that when it is inserted 

 into the trachea it will not double up. With the help of the 

 described instruments and the holding of the head in position, 

 which will be described later, we had no difficulty in inserting 

 the cotton swab in the trachea and its bifurcation but in a few 

 cases it was impossible to remove the swab through the canula. 



