158 



Maimer of Infection. 



There are three ways by which animals may become infected, 

 namely, by ingestion, by inoculation, and by inhalation. The 

 most important of these is ingestion, which occurs when animals 

 are turned out on anthrax-infected pastures. Next in import- 

 ance is inoculation, which is brought about by contact of abra- 

 sion and wounds with affected material, or when the same is 

 carried by flies or other insects from an anthrax carcass to a 

 healthy animal. Infection by inhalation occurs when dust con- 

 taminated with anthrax spores gains entrance to the respiratory 

 tract or the lungs of susceptible animals. 



Infection of the Soil. 



Soil becomes infected with anthrax by discharges from ani- 

 mals suffering from the disease or by the dead bodies of animals, 

 which are allowed to decompose on the surface. It is therefore 

 very important to limit the wanderings of affected animals to the 

 smallest possible areas and to dispose of all anthrax carcasses in 

 such a way as to insure the most complete destruction of the 

 infection. 



Disposal of Carcasses. 



The disposal of an anthrax carcass should never be left to the 

 owner, nor should anyone be allowed to open the carcass of an 

 animal that is supposed to have died from anthrax. For diag- 

 nostic purposes a drop of blood may be draw^n from the jugular 

 vein by means of a hypodermic syringe, and the carcass should 

 then be saturated with crude oil, elevated from the ground by 

 rolling it onto a couple of fence-posts, at least six inches in diam- 

 eter, and a fire built over it, which will insure its complete incin- 

 eration. This will require at least half a cord of wood and from 

 fifteen to twenty gallons of crude oil. Where no wood can be 

 secured the carcass may be buried, but the grave should be at 

 least six feet deep, and care should be taken that the infected 

 surface where the carcass was lying, be shoveled into the grave 

 first, and that the grave be well banked up to prevent it from 

 sinking in after the decomposition of the carcass, and the forming 

 of a pool over it. It is also advisable that such graves be sur- 

 rounded by a fence. 



Symptoms of Anthrax. 



As early as 1893 the writer, who was then a veterinary inspec- 

 tor in the service of the Federal Bureau of Animal Industry, 

 investigated an extensive outbreak of anthrax in the southern part 

 of Illinois. His report on this outbreak was published in the 

 annual report of the said bureau, and as it embraces many points 

 of interest as regards the manner in which the disease generally 



