1 May, 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 395 
it has been definitely proved, by means of thousands of experiments in every 
part of the world, that tuberculin is capable of detecting the existence of 
tuberculosis in cattle even in the very earliest stages of the disease. 
During the last three years the somewhat exhaustive experimental 
investigations conducted at or in connection with the Queensland Stock 
Institute have shown that when the tuberculin test is applied with judicious 
care, it is practically infallible ; moreover, it has proved itself of such incaleu- 
able benefit to stockowners, and is so very easy of application when the details 
are understood, that the following description of its nature and use will, I 
trust, be found acceptable to all interested in cattle, from the breeder of stud 
animals to the dairy farmer. ; 
By means of this information, a stockowner should be in a position to 
test his own cattle; but it is advisable, first of all, to receive some practical 
instruction, and see the test several times applied by one of the officers 
attached to the Queensland Stock Institute. 
Up till 1893 tuberculin was only prepared in Koch’s Laboratory, in 
Berlin, but when the nature of its composition beéame known, and it was 
pointed out by Nocard and Roux, of the Pasteur Institute, that tuberculin 
must ultimately come into general use for detecting tuberculosis in cattle, it 
was not long before this agent was prepared in several other institutions. At 
the present time tuberculin is prepared on a very extensive scale, specially for 
diagnostic purposes, by the following institutions:—Koch’s Laboratory, in 
Berlin; Pasteur Institute, in Paris; Bang’s Laboratory, in Copenhagen; 
Royal Veterinary College and the Institute of Preventive Medicine, in London ; 
Bacteriological Laboratory of the Bureau of Animal Industry, Washington, 
U.S.A.; and Board of Health Laboratory, New York; while in the Southern 
Hemisphere, the Stock Institute in Brisbane claims to be the first and only 
place where standardised tuberculin is prepared, practically speaking, on a scale 
to meet the demands of all Australia. 
THE METHOD OF PREPARING TUBERCULIN IN THE STOCK INSTITUTE. 
Tuberculinis a sterilised, filtered glycerine extract of pure cultivations of 
the tubercle bacillus. That whichis prepared in England, France, and Germany 
is made from cultures of the bacillus growing in peptonised beef broth, 
containing from 6 to 8 per cent. of pure glycerine, as per samples exhibited. 
When I first commenced in an experimental way preparing tuberculin in 
Brisbane, I adopted the same kind of nutrient media; but in consequence of 
the various lots of beef from which boullion was prepared, varying so much in 
quality, more particularly the necessary salts of serum, which very materially 
interfered with the standardising of the resulting tuberculin. I endeavoured 
and succeeded in preparing a special form of nutrient media, made up of pure 
chemicals, the whole being analogous in composition to the very best quality beef. 
Pure peptone, an important and expensive item in the old nutrient media, 
is disregarded in the new formula, thereby considerably reducing the expense of 
turning out a first-class article. aes 
The most important point is that, whenever we wish to prepare fresh 
batches of tuberculin, we always have the satisfaction of knowing exactly to a 
day when to filter our culture, providing, of course, the regulators attached to 
the incubators have maintained an even-temperature throughout the period 
required for obtaining the desired amount of growth of the tubercle bacillus. 
The following is the formula of the nutrient media used in the Stock. 
Institute :— | 
Magnesia sulphate ... ft ee ... 02 grammes 
Acid potassium phosphate... i a WO) _ 
Ammonium phosphate aa be ao WOW \ 
Sodium chloride te re r= ga WOT) - 
Asparagin ... rx ote: a ae. FO) ie 
Glycerine a 304) der Ars eMC? 
Distilled water om at ir 1,000 ce. 
