1 Srpr., 1899.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 309 
CATTLE STANDING HEAD TO HEAD OBJECTIONABLE. 
The common plan of arranging the byre, so-as to save labour in feeding, 
by having an alley-way with the heads of the cattle opposite each other, is 
objectionable from a health standpoint, as it exposes animals opposite tuber- 
culous cattle much more to the contagion than when they are placed with their 
heads to the wall. They may be easier fed the former way, but they are easier 
cleaned the latter, and it has a decided sanitary advantage should contagious’ 
disease exist. 
Running water in troughs placed in front of cattle is objectionable if 
tuberculosis is present, as by this means the germs may be carried in front of 
the whole herd. ° 
SYMPTOMS AND DIAGNOSIS OF TUBERCULOSIS. 
In the majority of cases the symptoms are obscure, and till the discovery 
by Professor Koch of the reaction produced by the injection of tuberculin 
(being a most reliable test for discovering this disease in obscure cases unre- 
cognisable by symptoms) the majority of cases could not be detected even by 
experts. 
' When affecting the lungs, throat, and respiratory organs generally, it is 
accompanied by a frequent cough, but no fever. There is disturbance of 
respiration: the breathing is quickened by slight exertion or excitement; the 
cough is produced by changes of temperature. The expert can detect dull 
spots surrounded by areas of increased resonance on examination of the lungs 
by the usual method. 
Usually the superficial glands, in the throat between the jaws, under the 
ear, or the udder, may be hard and swollen. The animals may continue for 
months or even years to maintain fair condition. They are sometimes fat while 
the lungs may be found studded by large tubercular masses. 
When the disease is abdominal and the glands and organs in the belly are 
chiefly affected, the symptoms of defective nutrition are early apparent: emaci- 
ation, lessened secretion of milk, indigestion, breathlessness, and general failure 
more or less rapid. Many cases cannot be detected by symptoms, but can be 
- almost to a certainty (in 98 per cent. at least) by the tubereulin test. 
THE TUBERCULIN TEST, 
Until the discovery by Professor Koch, in his experiments to discover a 
cure for consumption in human beings, that the injection of tuberculin invari- 
ably caused a rise in temperature when the person or animal was tuberculous, 
while it produced no effect whatever when free from it, the detection of the 
disease in early stages, or when slightly affected, was considered impossible in 
most cases. This test is most delicate and reliable (about 98 per cent.), where 
it is properly applied. 
Tuberculin 1s a soluble product of cultures of tubercle bacilli, of which a 
glycerine extract is made which is sterilised by heat and filtered through 
porcelain, so that it contains no living gems, and therefore cannot produce 
tuberculosis in animals injected with it. It has, therefore, no effect on healthy 
animals ; insome cases the disease is aggravated by it when it exists, but it 
cannot be produced by it. The lymph must not be exposed to sunlight. It 
must not be frozen ; must be kept well corked to exclude air, 
Luberculin Injection has no Bad Effects on the Secretion of Milk.—The 
consensus of opinion of those most experienced is that it does not lessen the 
secretion of milk in dairy cattle ; consequently they may be tested even when in 
full milk without disturbing its secretion. 
OFTEN NO REACTION IN ADVANCED CASES. 
Tt is usually found that in animals in advanced stages of the disease, owing 
to there being a superabundance of tuberculin in the system already, there ig 
little or no reaction. 
Fortunately in such cases the symptoms are so apparent, such as coughing, 
wasting, enlarged glands, &e., that the owner has little difficulty in recognising 
the same. 
