BCG vaccine fine powder. Sometimes the powder is sealed with vacuum in a glass ampoule. Such a glass ampoule has to be opened slowly to prevent the airflow from blowing out the powder. Then the powder has to be diluted with saline water before injecting. The history of BCG is tied to that of smallpox. Jean Antoine Villemin first recognized bovine tuberculosis in 1854 and transmitted it, and Robert Koch first distinguished "Mycobacterium bovis" from "Mycobacterium tuberculosis". Following the success of vaccination in preventing smallpox, established during the 18th century, scientists thought to find a corollary in tuberculosis by drawing a parallel
Inoculation also has a specific meaning for procedures done "in vitro". These include the transfer of microorganisms into and from laboratory apparatus such as test tubes and petri dishes in research and diagnostic laboratories, and also in commercial applications such as brewing, baking, oenology (wine making), and the production of antibiotics. In almost all cases the material inoculated is called the inoculum, or less commonly the inoculant, although the term culture is also used for work done "in vitro". The term inoculation entered medical English through horticultural usage meaning to graft a bud (or eye) from one plant into another. It