THE INTRADERMAL TUBERCULIN TEST.* 
By D. F. Luckey, D.V.S., Bloomfield, Mo. 
The old subcutaneous test is so unsatisfactory in so many 
different ways as to give due cause for rejoicing at the dis¬ 
covery of a simpler test, and one that promises to be if any¬ 
thing more accurate. In extreme cold weather the night and 
early morning work required in taking temperatures of cattle is 
disagreeable in the extreme. In hot weather, when cattle are 
accustomed to the comfortable conditions of the shady • blue- 
grass pasture, it is almost inhumane to confine them for 24 
hours in a hot dairy barn. Very frequently, indeed, an animal 
will be found which is in no condition to give a true reaction 
to the temperature test. It is no uncommon thing to have to 
postpone a test on a cow that is found in heat, one in advanced 
pregnancy, or one which has recently brought a calf. Various 
other agencies, too numerous to mention, interfere with the 
temperature and the length of time required to give the tem¬ 
perature test makes it impractical to use this test in examining 
small lots of cattle scattered through the country. This fact 
has become extremely apparent to us in attempting to test all 
of the cattle furnishing dairy products to a city in this state. 
The intradermal test has many advantages over the tempera¬ 
ture test. No night work is necessary. Neither age, nor the 
condition of the animal cuts much figure, if any at all, with the 
reaction from the intradermal test. A cow that is in heat, one 
that is in advanced pregnancy, one that has recently brought a 
calf or aborted, young or wild animals that are excited or wor¬ 
ried may be tested with the intradermal test, as well as the old 
gentle cow that stands quietly in her stall. The intradermal 
test is so many times more expedient, as to make comparison 
* Presented at Semi-Annual Meeting of the Missouri Valley Veterinary Medical Association, 
Kansas City, January 1912. 
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