2-54 ON FEVEES AMOKGST HOESES, CATTLE, ETC. 



quence was, that seven more died the same evening, the tumours 

 having been rapidly developed on the neck and chest, spreading 

 from the phlebotomy wound as a centre. In another instance, 

 a shepherd skinned a bullock that had died the same morning 

 of black-quarter, and later in the day castrated several litters of 

 pigs. Although he had washed his hands, and taken a turn 

 among his sheep in the interval, the result was that all the pigs 

 operated on died. 



" The potency of the poison does not seem destructible by the 

 digestive fluid, since pigs and dogs, partaking of the fresh blood,, 

 or other parts of affected animals, are seized with violent sick- 

 ness, vomiting, and purging, and in many cases die." 



Mr Kobertson, M.E.C.V.S., in a paper* on Splenic Apoplexy, 

 states that he has fed dogs and cats on the flesh of an ox 

 slaughtered in the last stages of the disease, yet no bad conse- 

 quences resulted. This simply proves that cats and dogs have a 

 greater power of resisting the effects of such animal poisons, a 

 qualification which eminently fits them for their office as scaven- 

 gers, while the statement does not affect the question of the 

 existence of an animal poison in anthrax fevers. Dr Crisp,-f- in 

 an able paper on splenic apoplexy, quotes numerous instances 

 of the poisonous condition of the blood and flesh of animals 

 dying or slaughtered when affected with the disease, dogs, swine, 

 and even birds dying in consequence. He believes the poison 

 is such as to lose its virulence in a few days, for he gave the 

 spleens of affected animals to dogs and ravens, and, notwith- 

 standing, they remained healthy. Exposure to the atmosphere 

 and thorough cooking destroys the poison, hence the immunity 

 from disease attending the consumption by human beings of the 

 flesh of animals slaughtered often in the last stages of black- 

 quarter, braxy, parturient apoplexy, &c. 



The reader will do well to consult Dr Crisp's paper on splenic 

 apoplexy, in which incontrovertible testimony is given of the 

 existence and virulence of an animal poison, alike dangerous to 

 man and the lower animals. Besides this, there are scattered 

 throughout the pages of the " Veterinarian," " Edinburgh 

 Veterinary Eeview," " Eecueil de Medicine Veterinaire," as well 

 as other continental periodicals devoted to veterinary matters, 

 numerous articles corroborative of these facts, not only as regard- 

 ing splenic apoplexy but the other forms of anthrax fever; and 

 the writer might add many instances which, having come under 

 his own observation, strongly confirm the previous statements. 

 The following are selected: — 



" A farmer, keeping only a few young animals, sustained each 

 year loss from black-quarter. He ceased adopting any medical 



* Edinr. Yet}'. Review, Yol. II., p. 235. 



+ Bath and West of England Agricultural .Tonrnal, 1864. 



