114 



TUBERCLE 



infected than is generally supposed, and the import- 

 ance of carefully supervising milk supplies is 

 becoming more and more acknowledged. Veter- 

 inary surgeons are practically agreed that tuberculin 

 is a reliable and safe test for diagnosing the presence 

 of tuberculosis in animals, but affords no index of 

 the extent or degree of the disease. The test, how- 

 ever, will not produce tuberculosis in healthy 

 animals, and has no deleterious effect upon the 

 general health of the animals. The London County 

 Council have decided that all cows in London cow- 

 sheds shall be inspected by a veterinary surgeon 

 regularly once in every three months, and that a 

 systematic bacteriological examination shall be con- 

 ducted of milks collected from purveyors." {Medical 

 Annual, 1901.) 



6. Tuberculin has come into general use for the 

 detection of tuberculosis in cattle, to "shut off the 

 sources of the infection." A full account of this 

 method in different countries was given by Professor 

 Bang, of Copenhagen, at the Fourth Congress on 

 Tuberculosis, Paris, 1898. The injection of tuber- 

 culin is followed in eight to twelve hours by a well- 

 marked rise of temperature, if the animal be 

 tuberculous. Of this test, Professor McFadyean, 

 Principal of the Royal Veterinary College, London, 

 says :— 



" I have no hesitation in saying that, taking full 

 account of its imperfection, tuberculin is the most 

 valuable means of diagnosis in tuberculosis that we 

 possess. ... I have most implicit faith in it, when 

 it is used on animals standing in their own premises 

 and undisturbed. It is not reliable when used in 



