PREVENTIVE MEDICINE 255 



should supervise the whole proceedings personally. Old ropes 

 should be tied to the legs and head and be destroyed with the carcase. 

 The carcase is best conveyed to the place of destruction on some sort 

 of trolley (a hurdle provided with runners is often the best obtain- 

 able) and should be securely fastened to it. Owing to the difficulty 

 of completely closing the mouth and nostrils, and to the frequency 

 with which virulent blood flows from these orifices when the 

 carcase is on the trolley, the head should be bent backwards over 

 the shoulder so as to keep it at a high level and be fixed in that posi- 

 tion with ropes' tied to the hurdle. If it is left to trail along the 

 ground infection of the soil is certain to follow. It is impossible 

 to take too much care during the transit of the carcase to the place 

 of destruction. The ease with which infection may be conveyed 

 is shown by the following remarks by the Chief Veterinary Officer 

 of the Board of Agriculture in his annual report for 1914 : " A 

 horse which had been worked as a chain horse to a lorry employed 

 in carrying hides in the Liverpool docks died of anthrax. A horse 

 which had been used to drag a carcase of a cow which had died of 

 anthrax from the shippon to the grave died of the disease." 



All litter, dung and scrapings from the stall and its immediate 

 vicinity must be carefully taken up and buried or burned with the 

 carcase. Having removed the most obvious and easily removable 

 dirt, the entire stall, manger and surroundings must be disinfected 

 (see Disinfection). 



The spores of anthrax are very resistant to agents which readily 

 destroy the bacilli, and for this reason especial care must be taken 

 when carrying out cleansing and disinfection of an infected place. 

 Direct sunlight, heat, putrefaction, desiccation and disinfectants 

 of moderate strength are germicidal to the bacilli when in the 

 vegetative state. The spores, however, will withstand desiccation 

 for a very great length of time, according to Miessner for 18 

 years.* Spores will resist dry heat at 140 C for longer than 2 

 hours. The bacilli when in manure at a temperature of 70 C 

 to 76 C are killed in a few minutes, whereas the spores remain 

 virulent under the same conditions for 3 or 4 days. " Chloride of 

 lime " is destructive to spores in from 12 to 17 days, bichloride of 

 mercury (1 to 1000) in 15 minutes, and 5 per cent, carbolic acid 

 solution in 2 days (Miessner). Gastric juice is destructive to the 

 bacilli but not to the spores. 



Experiments carried out by Tilleyf with regard to the efficacy of 

 the Schattenfroh and the Seymour-Jones methods of disinfecting 

 * Epizootics and their Control during War, 1917, p. 88. 

 t Journ. Comp. Path., 1915, Vol. XXVIII., p. 182, Abs. 



