The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-02-18
S0-CdlIed Tuberculin Test
by J. NJ. IT,

Inc bacillus TUBERCULOSIS, dtnOush
just now more popular and more talk
ed about than our most eminent states
man. divine, poet. artist, or philoso-
pher, is nevertheless, as the Indian re-
| marked of the needle factory. small
| business he is exceedingly diminu-
| tive, as ordinarily found in man it is
| a little short narrow rod shaped Or
ganism ian organism is living being
whether man or microbeD one-fourth to
one-half the diameter of red corpus
| Gle, or one and twelfth of a micron
| long, and two tenths of a micron in
breadth: that is. one fourth to one half
the ID thousandth OF an inch long,
| and two tenths of the - thousandths
| part of an inch wide: it takes quite a
stretch of imagination TO realize its
smallness, and a strainer much finer
than the milk maids to filter it from
| your glass of delicious sweet milk or
a fine "oyster stew in milk" and we
| must bear in mind that vigorous pa
rent bacillus or consumption microbe
will raise healthy family of grown
up children numbering all told, 1911
PIG in the short space of twenty-four
hours. This bacillus has no use for
automobiles or aeroplanes and SCOTS
at kingly palaces: he is perfectly at
home most anywhere, in man, most
animals. especially mich cows, cattle
generally, horses. in fact nearly all do
nestle animals: wild animals are free
| from it: fish. and even the festive oys-
ter must plead guilty of harboring him,
| like people, after he dwells in GER
tain living organism sufficiently to
claim citizenship. adapts himself to
that variety of life. and can. under
close microscopic observation be iden-
titled as distinct family, for instance,
| the human bacillus tuberculosis is
| found originally in mankind. in cattle
| he is the bovine bacillus tuberculosis.
| in the horse he is the equine bacillus
| tuberculosis, in birds he is avian ba-
cillus tuberculosis. in fish the piscine
| bacillus tuberculosis, &c. In desiccat-
| ed or dried up form, and Spore or pol
| len like form, he sails on the wings of
the wind at sweet will. dropping down
where he the wind listeth: immedi-
! ately conditions are favorable, he sets
and interesting family.
TURERcULIN.
Twenty-eight years ago next March
| Doctor Robert Koch, a German physi-
| clan announced his discovery of mi
crobe which he named the bacillus tu-
| berculosis, which he claimed causes the
| disease tuberculosis or consumption:
in 1890 he announced the discovery Of
substance which he called tuberculin,
claiming that it would kill or stop the
growth of the bacillus tuberculosis: it
| created a great stir in the medical and
| scientific world. but subsequent expe-
rience and trial failed to sustain his
| claims. kOch'S tuberculin was no
more and no less than a scientific stew
I from the culinary department of the
| bacteriologic laboratory: and the same
may be said of the ''tuberculin test" of
| today; it is made much the same way
as an oyster stew is made of the oys-
ter: that is to say. that tuberculin is
| made by first cultivating the consump-
ton bacteria or microbe taken from
the sputa or material coughed up from
the lungs of cOnsumptive. and the
rottener the better germs it affords;
these are sown in culture field, blood
serum is the best. until very prolif-
ic crop results, when they are convert
ed into the "tuberculin. 1t is said
! that the morning sputa or what the
| cOnsumptive coughs up first In the
morning. is richest in germs and
therefore the best culture material.
| Fearing that your readers may deem
my words too strongly put, allow me
| to presume on your patience with rath-
err lengthy quotations as follows:
Messrs. Park. Davis Il Co.. of Detroit,
Mich. one of the largest drug houses,
as we'll as one of the most reliable
manufacturing pharmacists in the
world. issues a booklet. "Tuberculin.'
which says. our present list includes
six distinct products as follows:
a. Tuberculin, B. F.
! g, Tuberculin, Old.
60 Tuberculin, T. r. (concentrat.
ed
! ca Tuberculin, T. r. (dilute)
Is Tuberculin, B. E.
90 Tuberculin Purified Discs.
| "Tuberculin. B. F.. or bullion fill
|
| duct, consisting of the boullion in
which virulent tubercle bacilli have
grown. filtered through paper and
through a germ proof filter. and pre-
served by the addition of four-tenths
of tricol.
Tuberculin, Old. is prepared by evap-
Grating the boullion in which tuhercle
germs have grown and filterlng
through porcelain to remove the germ
! bodies.
"Tuberculin. T. r. concentrated
consists of the residue obtained after
repeatedly centrifugiasing precipitat-
ing by much forcei a suspension in dis
titled water, of the dried and pulver-
lied germs. One cubic centimeter
contains one milligram OF total tuber-
Gle solids tdryD
"Tuberculin, B. E. is also made
from the germ bodies-pulverlzed and
suspended in glycerin solution. The
we'll washed. live, virulent tuoercie ba-
cilli are thoroughly dried and then