Anthrax. 347 



tliroughout the world, affecting not ouly all domestic animals, liorses, 

 donkeys, cattle, sheep, pig's, deer, dogs, fowls, but even lish and 

 men. 



In the year 1847 it made its first appearance in Australia in the 

 county of Cumberland, in New South Wales, for which reason it was 

 for a considerable time known in Australia as "Cumberland Disease," 

 since when it has spread over the greater portion of Australia whei*e 

 stock are kept, and outbreaks have also occurred in Tasmania and 

 New Zealand ; iu fact, it is well scattered throughout the world. 



Definition of Disease. 



Anthrax is an infectious disease caused by the ingress into the 

 system of the spores or reproductive bodies <»f the Bacillus anthracis. 

 It is not very probable that the bacilli and spores of anthrax ever 

 pass directly from one animal to another ; transmission is effected by 

 intermediate bearers, such as utensils, people, and food. The major 

 portion of the cases of infection by anthrax are caused by miasmatic 

 infection of the soil. The means of immigration are three-fold, viz. 

 — (]) by the alimentary canal ; (2) by the skin and natural openings 

 of the body; and (3) by the lungs. Cattle generally contract the 

 disease through the alimentary canal, as also do dogs, pigs, and cats, 

 while in horses and sheep it occurs through the skin. 



Infection by the Intestines. 



This is the usual form : the spores and bacilli gain access either 

 through the food or drinking water, the chief port of infection being 

 the small intestine, the mucous membrane of which need not neces- 

 sarily be injured. 



Though the gastric juice, as in some other diseases, may kill the 

 bacilli, yet the spores are unatt'ected by it. Vehicles for the trans- 

 mission of the spores in this form are to be found in food stuffs grown 

 on, or near, places in which animals after dying of anthrax were 

 buried insufficiently deep, or where excrements are cast, and fodder 

 obtained from infected districts. 



In the Geelong district during the past year each of the isolated 

 cases of anthrax have been traced directly to the bone-meal given to 

 the cattle to make up for deficiencies in the soil. In some cases the 

 mortality began after the bone-meal had been used for some time. 

 When its use was stopped the deaths ceased, and when again used the 

 cattle died. In one instance in a small paddock upon which bone- 

 meal had been used as manure, deaths occurred among cattle while 

 grazing on the land, ceasing when they were removed to another 

 pasture, and when brought back to this paddock again there were 

 more deaths. That bone-meal was the medium through which the 

 disease was contracted was proved by Dr. Bull, Demonstrator of 

 Bacteriology at the Melbourne University, who, by a series of experi- 

 ments on guinea-pigs with cultures from the bone-meal submitted to 

 him, caused the deaths of the subjects operated on in periods extend- 

 ing to forty-five hours from the time of inoculation, jpost mortem 



