Med. Also erron. -ine. [f. L. tūberculum TUBERCLE + -IN1.] A liquid prepared from cultures of tubercle-bacillus, originally by Dr. Koch of Berlin in 1890, or any one of various later modifications of this, used by hypodermic injection as a remedy, or (now esp.) as a test, for tuberculosis.
1891. Daily News, 12 Feb., 6/5. Dr. Koch’s lymph has received the name of ‘tuberculine.’
1893. Times, 19 Dec., 3/2. ‘Tuberculin’ … has been employed as an aid to the diagnosis of tuberculosis.
1896. Westm. Gaz., 10 March, 4/1. At the Balneological Congress,… Dr. Kaatzer spoke very highly of the value of tuberculin in phthisis…. Professor Liebreich asserted that the cure of lupus by tuberculin was more apparent than real.
1899. Syd. Soc. Lex., Tuberculin, Koch’s lymph … consisting of ptomaines of the tubercle bacilli.
Hence Tuberculinize v., trans. to treat with tuberculin; whence Tuberculinization (Dorland).
1895. Buck’s Handbk. Med. Sc., IX. 900/2. Comparing … the condition of the various organs of the tuberculinized with of the same in healthy animals.
1899. in Syd. Soc. Lex.
