No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 117 



might not become a menace to other animals. On the other hand, 

 it is certain that such horses usually, and often in a very short time, 

 become capable of transmitting disease to other horses, and 

 sometimes this occures while the subject is still in apparent good 

 condition so that he does not attract nut ice In such cases, it is 

 believed that there should be no hesitation in condemning the horse 

 and that the thousands of healthy horses at work on streets and 

 highways should have the benefit of any doubt there may be rather 

 than that a horse properly under suspicion and known to be afflicted 

 with glanders, even though to a slight extent at the time, should 

 be released and given an opportunity to spread infection. 



The new law requiring veterinarians to report all cases of glan- 

 ders to the secretary of the State Livestock Sanitary Board is 

 likely to be of service in dealing with this disease. 



Anthrax. Anthrax occurred during 1905 in the following coun- 

 ties: Berks, Bradford, Chester, Lancaster. Lycoming, McKean, Pot- 

 ter, Susquehanna, Tioga and Warren. About fifty animals died in 

 these various districts. Each carcass usually becomes a center of 

 infection lasting for a series of years, if it is not promptly disposed 

 of in a safe way. Every animal dying of anthrax should be cre- 

 mated, if it is possible to do this. If cremation is not possible, the 

 carcass should be deeply buried and covered with lime or encased 

 in cement. All anthrax carcasses known were disposed of in some 

 of these ways. Vaccine was distributed for eight hundred and 

 thirty-six (83G) animals. 



In addition to the cattle and horses reported to have died of 

 anthrax three deaths were reported among workmen in tanneries, 

 one in Tioga county and two in Warren county. It appears that 

 these workmen became infected from infectious hides — probably 

 hides that had been removed from animals that had died of anthrax. 

 It is known that such hides are exceedingly dangerous and many 

 cases are recorded where men have become infected from them. 

 The drainage from tanneries where such hides are worked upon is 

 frequently infectious for cattle and it is chiefly in this way that an- 

 thrax has been distributed in Pennsylvania. The infectious hides 

 that reach the tanneries are usually, if not always, of foreign origin. 

 The United States government requires a consular certificate to the 

 effect that hides shipped from foreign countries are from healthty 

 animals and that they have been disinfected. In spite of these 

 requirements, hides containing virulent anthrax bacilli are often 

 imported. It has been observed in other states, and in other coun- 

 tries, that hides are among the chief agents in the distribution of 

 anthrax, and it is largely through commerce in hides that anthrax 

 has been carried into many parts of nearly all of the leading indus- 

 trial countries. So far as the protection of the live stock is con- 

 cerned, danger could be avoided very largely, if not wholly, by 

 requiring all scraps of hides and scrapings to be thoroughly steril- 

 ized by boiling before they are discharged into streams. The 

 vicious practice of some tanneries of discharging large quantities 

 of raw sewage into the streams of the State constitutes a serious 

 menace to the health of the live stock (to say nothing of the people), 

 and it cannot be too strongly condemned. 



Blackquarter. Blackquarter prevailed during the year 1905 in 

 the following named counties: Bedford, Bradford, Erie, Fayette, 



