104 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



every now aud then attempts are made to destroy carcasses by piling 

 wood on top of them and burning this. The result is that the sur- 

 face of the carcass is seared and charred, but the great bulk of it 

 is not consumed or even healed through. To properly cremate a 

 carcass requires from one-half to three-quarters of a cord of wood. 

 The wood should be piled in such a way as to make a pyre from 

 six to eight feet square and about two feet high. It is well to have 

 some large sticks, such as railroad ties, for this purpose. The wood 

 should be well sprinkled with kerosene in order to help ignition. 

 The carcass is to be drawn to the top of this pile upon poles used 

 as skids. After the carcass is in place, the fire is to be lighted and 

 the skids and everything that is contaminated with blood from the 

 dead animal should be thrown upon the fire. Detailed instructions 

 for cremating a carcass with the least possible amount of fuel by 

 methods successfully used in Germany, are given in the annual 

 report from this division in the year 1902. This report appears 

 on pages 154 and 155 of the Department of Agriculture for that year. 



It seems to be desirable that this opportunity should be used to 

 give warning anew in regard to the danger of skinning anthrax 

 carcasses or making jjost mortem examinations upon them. The 

 danger from these operations are two fold, and applies first to the 

 person who does the work and who exposes himself to a grave 

 infection and, secondly, to animals or persons who may subsequently 

 became exposed as a result of the infection of the soi"! where it is 

 contaminated by blood and other juices from the carcass. A great 

 many men who have handled anthrax carcasses, have become in- 

 fected with anthrax. The infection of the skin with the germs of 

 anthrax results in the production of an area of suppuration and 

 necrosis known as a "malignant carbuncle." This condition can 

 usually be cured if appropriate treatment is prom])tly applied, but 

 if the condition is neglected, it will lead to general infection and 

 death. 



If anthrax is suspectid and the diagnosis cannot be made from 

 the symptoms alone, it is best to treat the carc^ass as though it 

 were known that the animal h;id died of anthrax, and thus be on 

 the safe side. In order, however, that a positive diagnosis may 

 be established and, thus, uncertainty for the future be removed, 

 a sjxH'imen from the subject should be submitted for- laboratory 

 examination. For the diagnosis of anthrax a little blood is^neces- 

 sary, because it is in (he bhtod that the germs of the disease are 

 most numerous. It is best that blood for this purpose should be 

 sent in tie natural blood vessels, that is to say, in a piece of tissue, 

 rather thaa to be drawn into a bottle or receptacle and in this w^ar 

 exposed to accidental contamination. A convenient method of sub- 

 iiiilliiig a specimen foi' llir laboratory examination lias been found 



