DIAGNOSIS OF ANTHRAX 349 



quently the free ends of many of the filaments are seen projecting 

 out from the margin of the colony, differing radically in this 

 respect from the anthrax colony. The filaments are never so 

 even and regular, or so homogeneous, or arranged in such smooth 

 sweeping curves in the anthrax-like colonies as in true anthrax. 

 The filaments are usually broken by sharp angular bends here 

 and there, and in some cases they are very short and interlace. 



Details of the many anthrax-like organisms encountered in 

 putrefying material are too numerous to give here. To anyone 

 who has a good picture of the true anthrax colony in his mind, 

 it would be an easy matter to eliminate all of the "pseudo" 

 forms which I have encountered and examined as I have 

 described. 



I do not advocate the method just described as a method to 

 supersede entirely the use of guinea-pigs in the diagnosis of 

 anthrax from more or less decomposed animal material, but I 

 do believe it is a valuable aid in making a rapid diagnosis and 

 will eliminate the guinea-pig in the majority of cases. In badly 

 decomposed material, I believe cultural methods have certain 

 advantages over the use of animals inasmuch as the anaerobic 

 bacilli present in such material will frequently bring about death 

 of the inoculated animal in less time than is ordinarily required 

 for anthrax material to do this while these organisms offer no 

 difficulties in the cultural method. Furthermore, it is known, 

 in these cases, that the number of viable anthrax organisms are 

 greatly reduced and it is conceivable that those which remain 

 may be so attenuated in some cases that they may fail to infect 

 the animals inoculated. The cultural method offers a small 

 chance of detecting such cases should they occur. 



SUMMARY 



1. Many anthrax like organisms are encountered in the exami- 

 nation of partially putrefied animal tissues for B. anthracis. 



2. The McFadyean reaction has not proven of great service 

 in distinguishing the true anthrax from these contaminating 

 forms. 



