The BALB/c mouse was selected as a model for infection with Brucella abortus on the basis of protracted nonclinical infection produced by strain 2308, virulent for cattle, and relatively rapid clearance of strain 19, an attenuated strain used to vaccinate cattle. Protection in mice vaccinated with strain 19 was compared with that obtained with nonliving vaccines at early (1 week) and later (4 weeks) intervals after challenge with strain 2308 and assessed by enumeration of B. abortus organisms in the spleen. Mice challenged 4 weeks after vaccination with strain 19 exhibited significant protection at 1 and 4 weeks postinfection (p.i.), with an increased magnitude of protection at the later time. When challenged 6 weeks after vaccination with strain 19, the level of protection diminished between 1 and 4 weeks p.i. and at the later time was not always significantly different from controls. Mice immunized 4 weeks earlier with nonliving vaccines in mineral oil with t trehalose dimycolate (TDM) and muramyl dipeptide (MDP) demonstrated patterns of protection similar to those obtained following the 6 week vaccination-challenge interval with strain 19. Vaccination with cell envelopes derived from strain 2308 produced equivalent protection at 1 week p.i. whether administered in phosphate-buffered saline, incomplete Freund adjuvant, or the TDM and MDP adjuvant. Equivalent protection also followed vaccination with strain 2308 killed whole cells, cell envelopes, or outer membrane proteins in phosphate-buffered saline or in the TDM and MDP adjuvant. The TDM and MDP adjuvant alone induced nonspecific resistance, which peaked at 1 day p.i. and was still present at 1 week p.i., although by this time its magnitude was significantly less than the protection induced by antigen combined with the adjuvant. These data, together with the results of antibody assays and passive and adoptive transfer studies, suggested that protection at 1 week p.i. could be accounted for largely by an effect of O antibodies, with T cell-mediated immune responses having a subsidiary role.