304 DR. LEGEAR'S STOCK BOOK. 



to the disease in five counties in Illinois. In July, 1895, 222 

 died in one county in New Jersey. And it is reported that thou- 

 sands of animals have died during the recent outbreak in Louis- 

 iana. It is quite common among the mules of Mexico. Gen- 

 erally speaking the germs of anthrax seem to exist wherever the 

 soil is of a marshy nature, and outbreaks are always likely to take 

 place where such soil is found. 



Causes. The causes of anthrax were at one time attrib- 

 uted entirely to climatic influence, the soil, etc., and no doubt 

 they are important predisposing factors in the development 

 of the disease, for it is most prevalent in low, damp, 

 swampy districts during the warm season, especially when out- 

 breaks over any number of animals occur. Decaying vegetable 

 matter seems most favorable for nourishing and preserving the 

 virus, while it is more frequent in districts where low-lying 

 swamp lands dry out during the heat of summer and are then 

 covered with light rains. The direct cause of anthrax is the an- 

 thrax bacillus (bacillus anthrax), which is a rod-like, vegetable 

 organism. These bacilli are very small, and require a powerful 

 microscope to see them. The bacteria multiply very rapidly in 

 the blood by becoming elongated and then dividing into two, and 

 each of these dividing, and so on indefinitely. Outside of the 

 body, however, when under conditions favorable to growth, they 

 multiply in a different way. Small round bodies appear within 

 the rods, called spores (seed germs), which remain alive after 

 years of drying. They also resist extreme heat, so that boiling 

 water is necessary to destroy them. The bacilli themselves, on 

 the other hand, show only very little resistance to heat and dry- 

 ing. 



The spores may remain in the ground for years and then pro- 

 duce an outbreak of the disease. They may be carried to land on 

 skin scraps which are used as fertilizers. Weather, rainfall and 

 temperature in particular govern the source of the contagion. 



