INFECTION. 123 



sometimes be the means of saving either his own life or that of 

 others by immediate action, in cases where the delay in procuring 

 a doctor would be fraught with great danger to the infected 

 person. 



The period of incubation is seldom less than from four to seven 

 days (though shorter periods have been affirmed), and never longer 

 than from twelve to fourteen days. The first indications of infec- 

 tion are sensations of burning and itching, similar to the sting of an 

 insect, upon the parts where infection took place. Such places ap- 

 pear as small, reddish flea-bite spots, with a blackish center. The 

 spot at first swells, but rapidly becomes an itching nodule, upon 

 the apex of which appears a reddish or bluish vesicle, which soon 

 bursts and presents a dark-red base. The patient frequently de- 

 stroys these vesicles by scratching before they come to maturity. 

 The excoriated places become dry, brownish, or red, and scab over ; 

 a red or violet circle surrounds them, upon which small vesicles 

 soon develop. These secondary vesicles contain a yellowish, red- 

 dish, or blackish fluid. The circle sometimes fails, but in general 

 extends, becomes more and more tumefied, and the surroundings 

 oedematous and. very extensive. 



It is not necessary to our purpose to extend these remarks fur- 

 ther, but the detailed account of the symptoms of anthrax can be 

 studied in any good work on human medicine. 



The disease generally runs its course in fatal cases in from five 

 to eight days. 



The first phenomena of the disease after the consumption of the 

 flesh of diseased animals generally appear very quickly: in six to eight 

 hours. The patients complain of shivering, weakness, headache, or 

 general sickness. Death frequently results in two or three days. 

 Peculiar pustulous or carbunculous centers are frequently to be met 

 with in the digestive tracts ; transudations in the cavities of the 

 body, sero-hsemorrhagic infiltrations of the loose connective tissues, 

 glands, etc., in which as well as the carbuncles the characteristic 

 bacteria may be found, as well as in all the capillaries of the body. 



Beautiful microscopic specimens showing the bacteria may be 

 prepared from the skin, kidneys, or other organs. 



The diagnosis is comparatively easy where reasons for infection 

 exist. The examination of the blood with the microscope should 

 never be neglected, particularly of blood obtained from suspicious 

 wounds or pustules, as the bacteria remain much longer locally con- 

 fined than in animals. 



