1 Mar., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 211 
will be found that the bacilli of tuberculosis alone have retained the primary 
red colouration (fuchsine), while all other micro-organisms and any histological 
elements which may be present are decolorised by the acid, but have taken on 
the contrast or background stain, methylene blue. This invaluable method 
(which is practised all over the world) is almost in daily use in our Stock 
Institute in Brisbane, being principally employed for detecting tuberele bacilli 
in sputum from phthisical patients, mill of cows suffering from tubercular 
mammittis, and various morbid specimens; but its chief use is in 
connection with providing stockowners in this and the neighbouring 
colonies with pure pleuro-pneumonia virus, euaranteed to be as free as modern 
bacteriological examination will allow from all traces of tubercular taint. 
Last year over 100,000 head of cattle in Queensland and New South Wales were 
inoculated with virus supplied by this Institute. Just think for a moment what 
this means. ‘The mass of overwhelming evidence, experimental and otherwise, 
has proved beyond all doubt that the prevalence of tuberculosis among cattle in 
these colonies is mainly due to the evil effects of the indiscriminate method of 
inoculation for pleuro-pneumonia with virus obtained from an animal also 
affected with tuberculosis, although not necessarily showing naked-eye lesions 
of this disease; and further, as an example, I found tubercle bacilli in three out 
of five animals killed for pleuro-pneumonia virus and supplied by one indivi- 
dual alone, and that, if this virus had not been examined microscopically, it 
would have been used for inoculating upwards of 3,000 head of cattle. There- 
fore, stockowners should cheerfully appreciate the invaluable work that is 
‘being executed for their benefit by means of the microscope in the crusade 
against tuberculosis. It does not follow that every animal inoculated with 
virus containing tubercle bacilli will be affected with tuberculosis; there is 
always a percentage of animals in every herd that are practically insusceptible 
to the disease even by inoculation; on the other hand, an exhaustive series of 
experiments conducted at the Indooroopilly Experiment Station proved that the 
disease can be induced in some animals quite readily. Therefore, as tuber- 
culosis has been clearly shown to be a preventable disease, why not prevent it 
in the direction of using pleuro lymph that has withstood the bacteriological 
test? There is no objection whatever to stockowners declining to use the 
departmental lymph, although itis highly desirable that the virus collected by 
themselves should subsequently pass through the Stock Institute, otherwise it 
cannot be recommended with safety for inoculation purposes. In a report 
recently issued by the Sydney Board of Health, Dr. Ashburton Thompson” 
ventures to remark that “it should be made illegal to inoculate for pleuro- 
pneumonia except with virus taken from animals ascertained to be free from 
tuberculosis.” 
On the prevalence of tuberculosis in cattle in various countries, Nocard 
says the power which tuberculosis possesses of spreading among cattle is not 
sufficiently known. There are some countries among the most advanced in 
breeding, rearing, and animal hygiene, where the number of tuberculous cattle 
is more than 20 per cent. of the total bovine population. In Saxony, for 
instance, the official statistics of the abattoirs under inspection show that the 
number of animals recognised as tuberculous was, in 1891, 17-4 per cent. ; in 
1892, 17:79 per cent. ; in 1893, 18:26 per cent.; while in some towns the 
proportion reached 80 per cent. At the Copenhagen abattoir the proportion 
of tuberculous animals in 1891 reached 30 per cent. Out of 125,000 cattle 
slaughtered in Berlin in 1891 almost 15,000 or 12 per cent. were tuberculous. 
Atthe abattoir of Toulouse in 1889, 1,254 animals out vf 18,507 were found 
to be tuberculous. As the terms of inspection did not meet with the wishes of 
the owners, the number of tuberculous animals fell in 1890 to 340 out of 
12,694 slaughtered, about a quarter of the number of the preceding year. The 
surplus had been turned on to private slaughter-houses not under inspection. 
Although legislation with regard to tuberculosis and the inspection of 
abattoirs in England is still in a rudimentary state, we get from that country 
very valuable statistics. It is well known what admirable energy and the 
