i eae 
1 May; 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 397 
The 50 per cent. glycerine in the finally standardised tuberculin will 
prevent the development of any foreign micro-organisms which may gain access 
to the glass bottle when the stopper is removed; moreover, if this material is 
kept in a cool, dark cupboard, no alteration takes place with regard to its 
chemical composition and its physiological effects upon tubercular animals. 
Some tuberculin prepared in November, 1895, and kept under favourable 
conditions, has not deteriorated in the slightest degree, and is just as 
efficacious for diagnostic purposes as when it was first prepared. 
THE USE OF TUBERCULIN AS A MEANS FOR DIAGNOSING TUBERCULAR 
DISEASE IN CATTLE. s 
Tuberculin as a test agent is always used in the diluted form, in the 
proportion of 1 part tuberculin to 19 parts of a 5 in 1,000 carbolie acid 
solution. 
Of this diluted tuberculin the following*doses are required for different 
animals :— 
8 ce. for bulls, high-class and aged animals. 
6 ce. ,, medium-sized animals. 
4cc. ,, calves six to twelve months old. 
2ce. ,, calves under six.months. 
Example of method of diluting tuberculin :—;5 cc. pure tuberculin to 
7-8, ec. carb, sol.=1 to 19. 
APPLIANCES REQUIRED. 
Syringe-—A strong well-made hypodermic syringe holding 10 ce. with a 
strong needle attached ; that used in connection with preventive inoculation for 
tick fever is specially recommended. 
Thermometer—Kor taking the temperature a clinical thermometer is 
necessary, as this form has a self-registering index, but as the ordinary medical 
thermometer is such an extremely delicate instrument, and very liable to be 
broken, a special strong thermometer, suitable for taking the temperature of 
cattle and horses, has been designed and approved of by the Stock Institute. 
Thoroughly sterilise the syringe and needle (¢.e., destroy all germs that 
maa be in or on them) by soaking them in 5 per cent. solution of carbolic 
acid. , 
f THE APPLICATION OF THE TEST. ‘ 
The diagnoses of tuberculosis in cattle by means of this test depends 
entirely upon the characteristic elevation of temperature produced in a 
tuberculosis animal within a limited period after injection. 
This constitutes the only real difficulty, for, while determining that an 
abnormal rise in temperature has taken place, due allowance must be made for 
variations within the normal range of temperature and for those produced by 
causes other than the injection of tuberculin, for instance :— 
(a) As arule young animals are much warmer than old animals. 
(%) The temperature of the surrounding atmosphere, especially during 
the summer months, affects different animals unequally. 
(c) The drinking of cold water lowers the body temperature for some- 
times over an hour afterwards. ° 
(d) The presence of other diseases. 
(e) The approach of calving. 
(f) In the case of cows in heat, the temperature of the body is usually 
abnormal. 
(yg) Excitement due to fast driving. _ 
Having due regard to the above facts, it is recommended that all cattle 
except those manifestly too ill should be tested. 4 ! 
According to very numerous exhaustiye experiments, even cows in the 
last stages of pregnancy do not seem to react from the tuberculin injection 
unless they are tuberculous. 3 
