Annual Report of the Royal Veterinary College. 137 
culosis in twenty-seven animals, and wrongly in five, and it failed 
to indicate the existence of the disease in nineteen. At first sight, 
this result does not seem to bear out the expectations that have been 
formed regarding the value of tuberculin as an aid to diagnosis, 
but it is only fair to state that, although the post-mortem was as 
careful as it was possible to make it in animals dressed for the butcher 
in a slaughter-house, it is quite possible that tuberculous lesions 
may have been missed in some of the five animals that had a reaction 
but appeared sound. Moreover, it is important to bear in mind that 
in only three of the twenty-seven animals' in which the tuberculin 
correctly pointed out the existence of tuberculosis could a positive 
diagnosis have been made by any other means. The remaining 
twenty-four were apparently healthy cows, many of them in fair 
condition and giving a good yield of milk. 
Besides the seventy-two animals above referred to, over thirty 
others were tested with tuberculin, and in a large proportion of them 
a reaction indicating the existence of tuberculosis followed. Un- 
fortunately, a post-mortem examination in these cases could not be 
obtained, and the correctness of the indications could, therefore, not 
be verified. 
The Diagnosis of Glanders. 
Among those who have not had much experience of glanders the 
belief is general that the disease is one that is easily detected during 
life. This belief, however, is to a large extent erroneous. At the 
present time glanders is lamentably prevalent in London and in one 
or two other centres in Great Britain ; and this prevalence is mainly 
due to the latent course which the disease runs in many cases, and 
to the consequent difficulty of diagnosis. Shortly after the intro- 
duction of Koch’s tuberculin, an analogous preparation, termed 
mallein, was prepared by the Russian veterinary surgeon Kalning, 
and recommended for use as an aid to the diagnosis of glanders. 
This material contains in solution certain poisonous substances 
elaborated by the bacillus of glanders, and experiments made with 
it showed that it had a specific action on glandered horses ; that 
is to say, when injected subcutaneously it excited a very marked 
attack of fever (lasting for twenty-four hours or more) in horses that 
were the subjects of glanders, but was without effect (in moderate 
doses) in healthy, or non-glandered horses. 
It appeared to be of the highest importance to ascertain to what 
extent the statements made regarding the diagnostic value of 
mallein were true. A supply of the material was therefore ob- 
tained from the Pasteur Institute in Paris, and experiments have 
been made with this on upwards of seventy horses. The results 
warrant the statement that mallein is an agent of greater precision 
than tuberculin, and that it is likely to render most important 
service in any attempt to stamp out glanders. Hitherto such 
attempts in the large studs in London have been futile, because 
even the most experienced veterinary surgeons have found themselves 
