348 Annual Report for 1911 of Royal Veterinary College. 



after death were mistaken for anthrax bacilli, with the result 

 that the accuracy of the statistics provided by the Board of 

 Agriculture was seriously vitiated. 



Since the beginning of the present year the ultimate 

 diagnosis in any suspected case of anthrax has been in the 

 hands of the veterinary officers of the Board of Agriculture, 

 As formerly, the local veterinary inspector has still to make a 

 diagnosis, but, save when he decides that the case is not one of 

 anthrax, the diagnosis has to be confirmed by an officer of the 

 Board of Agriculture before the place at which the death 

 occurred is declared to be an " infected place." For statistical 

 purposes also no case is reckoned as one of anthrax until it has 

 been so diagnosed by a Veterinary Inspector after microscopic 

 examination of blood or other material which has been 

 forwarded to the Laboratory of the Board. 



It will thus be seen that the statistics for the past year do 

 not enable one to say whether the disease has been more or 

 less prevalent than in the previous years given in the table, 

 since they include only actual cases diagnosed microscopically 

 by experts ; whereas the figures for previous years include 

 all reported cases, no matter how the diagnosis had been 

 arrived at. 



There would probably not be much error in assuming that 

 there has been no real decline in the prevalence of the disease 

 in 1911, and that the figures are only smaller because of the 

 elimination of mistakes in diagnosis. At any rate, the pro- 

 visions of the new order with regard to diagnosis constitute 

 a distinct improvement from the owner's point of view, since 

 they greatly diminish the risk of his premises being wrongly 

 declared an infected place when the sudden unexpected death 

 of one of the animals compels him to notify the case as one 

 of suspected anthrax. In a few years also the information 

 collected under the new procedure will enable one to trace 

 the real incidence of anthrax in different parts of the country, 

 and to compare the true mortality occasioned by the disease 

 from year to year. 



Glanders. 



The varying incidence of glanders in Great Britain during 

 the last eight years is shown in the following table : — 



