Abstract
In an endeavor to elucidate the physiological bases of the inherited constitutional resistance to tuberculosis in the families discussed in the preceding report the following experiment was performed. About 4 litter mates of each of the third or fourth generations of the families A, B, C, D, F, and H were treated with standard quantities of heat-killed bovine tubercle bacilli. The volume of inflammation that resulted from the primary intracutaneous injection of 1.0 mg of the killed tubercle bacilli served as a measure of the primary inflammatory response of the tissues of the different rabbit families to the injected bacilli. The treatment with dead tubercle bacilli was then continued until a maximum sensitivity developed to a standard quantity of tuberculin injected intracutaneously. The volume of inflammation due to the tuberculin was regarded as a measure of the innate capacity of the tissues to acquire inflammatory responsiveness as a result of sensitization; for under these conditions the antigen responsible for the sensitization was constant, as it could not multiply. After a certain period all these rabbits were then infected uniformly with 0.2 mg of living virulent bovine Ravenel tubercle bacilli intracutaneously. The development of the local lesion and its course were carefully observed, together with the progress of the disease in the draining lymph nodes and internal organs. The volume of inflammation that resulted after intracutaneous injection of a standard quantity of tuberculin at the height of sensitivity during the course of the disease was regarded as a measure of the sensitization of infection or allergy. On the seventy-second day following the virulent infection all the rabbits were given an intracutaneous injection of 0.5 cc of a 1:5 dilution of India ink.
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