SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PIRQUET TEST
When Pirquet,1 in April, 1907, announced his tuberculin test, it marked an epochal advance in phthisiology. Basing his memorable researches on the underlying principle that there was an immediate reaction in serum sickness and vaccination, Pirquet not only offered a simple and reliable method for determining the presence or absence of tuberculous infections, but also valuable data on the prevalence of tuberculosis in children as well as in adults. This also opened an avenue of approach to experimental cutaneous reactions in other diseases, notably in diphtheria (Schick test) and scarlet fever (Dick test).
MODIFICATIONS OF THE PIRQUET METHOD
So universally recognized was the value of the tuberculin test in clinical as well as in experimental medicine that it has given stimulus to numerous modifications aiming at greater precision and simplicity, and to mention those of Craig, Hamburger, Kahara, Lautier, Mantoux-Mendel, Moro, Petruschky, Trambusta and