180 
\ 
Results of the tuberculin tests of cattle in various States. 
state. 
Number 
tested. 
Number 
tubercu- 
lous. 
Per cent 
tubercu- 
lous. 
Vermont 
60,000 
2,390 
3.9 
Massachusetts 
24,685 
12,443 
50.0 
Massachusetts, entire herds 
4,093 
1,080 
26.4 1 
6,300 
14.2 ( 
New York, 1894 
947 
66 
6.9 1 
New York, 1897-98 
1,200 
163 
18.4 ] 
Pennsylvania 
34,000 
4,800 
14. 1 
New Jersey 
2,500 
21.4 
Illinois, 1897-98 . 
929 
12.0 : 
Illinois, 1899 
3, 655 
560 
15.3 
Michigan 
13.0 
Minnesota 
3,430 
11.1 
Iowa 
i 873 
122 
13.8 
Wisconsin: 
Experiment station tests — 
Suspected herds 
323 
115 
35.6 
Nonsuspected herds 
935 
84 
9. 
State veterinarian’s tests— 
Suspected herds 
588 
191 
1 32.5 
Tests of local veterinarians under State veterinarian on cattle 
intended for shipment to States requiring tuberculin certificate... 
3,421 
76 
2.2 
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF RABINOWITSCH’S BUTTER BACILLUS. 
The results of some of the earlier workers are open to criticism in 
view of Rabinowitsch's discovery of an acid-fast bacillus in butter 
morphologically similar to the tubercle bacillus. If guinea pigs are 
inoculated with milk or butter containing the acid-fast butter bacillus 
they may often die and will present lesions to the naked eye very 
similar to those produced by the tubercle bacillus. For that reason I 
give the following description of the cultural characteristics and 
post-mortem appearances caused by this organism taken from 
Annett’s ® article. 
The characteristics of Rabinowitsch’s micro-organism are as fol- 
lows : It is immotile, and in form closely resembles the bacillus tuber- 
culosis. The bacilli generally occur singly and are often slightly 
curved; but when growing rapidly in tissue bacilli are often found 
lying parallel. Sometimes they form long unbranched threads and 
sometimes are divided into short pieces. The bacilli are somewhat 
thicker than the tubercle bacillus and often show a club-shaped 
swelling on one side. Spores are not formed, but one portion of the 
bacillus stains often more intensely than the rest. The bacilli stained 
by many methods of staining tubercle bacilli can not be distinguished 
® Annett, H. E. : Tubercle bacilli in milk, butter, and margarine. Report 
Thompson Yates Laboratory, 1898-99, pp. 29-35. 
