347 



ANNUAL REPORT FOR 191 1 OF 



THE PRINCIPAL OF 



THE ROYAL VETERINARY COLLEGE. 



Anthrax. 



The following Table supplies information regarding the 

 number of outbreaks of this disease and the number of animals 

 attacked during each of the last six years : — 



Year Outbreaks Animals attacked 



1906 ... 939 ... 1,3.30 



1907 ... 1,084 ... 1,4.56 



1908 ... 1,10.5 ... 1,429 



1909 ... 1,317 ... 1,698 



1910 ... 1,496 ... 1,776 



1911 ... 907 ... 1,120 



At first sight these figures suggest that there has been a 

 marked decline in the prevalence of anthrax during the last 

 twelve months, but it must be noted that owing to an 

 important provision of the new Anthrax Order, which came 

 into force on January 1, 1911, the figures for the past year are 

 not strictly comparable with those of the preceding years. This 

 provision relates to the method of diagnosis in suspected cases 

 of the disease. Under previous Orders the diagnosis in sus- 

 pected cases of anthrax was left in the hands of the Veterinary 

 Inspector acting under the directions of the Local Authority, 

 and for the purposes of the Order the opinion of the local 

 Veterinary Inspector had to be regarded as conclusive. For 

 some years past, however, information possessed by the Board 

 of Agriculture and Fisheries had led to the conviction that in 

 a very considerable proportion of the reported cases of anthrax 

 an error in diagnosis had been made. That the diagnosis was 

 not always correct is not surprising, since in not a few cases it 

 was based on the ascertainable history of the dead animal, 

 coupled with the appearance presented by the unopened 

 carcass. It has long been known that a diagnosis arrived at in 

 this way is little better than simple guessing, owing to the fact 

 that in cases of sudden death from various causes, such as 

 poison, lightning-stroke, suffocation, &c., the carcass within a 

 few hours after death generally presents the signs of rapid 

 putrefaction which were at one time supposed to be specially 

 characteristic of death from anthrax. It is true, however, that 

 during recent years the majority of veterinary inspectors have 

 based their opinion in suspected cases on the result of a micro- 

 scopic examination of the blood, for which many of them have 

 l)y practice made themselves quite competent. But the fact 

 remains that, whether on account of want of skill or the use 

 of inadequate instruments, in a considerable proportion of 

 cases simple putrefactive bacteria which had invaded the blood 



