LIFE HISTORY OF BACILLUS ANTHRACIS. 195 



of fluid, taken from the peritoneum of a guinea-pig which died 

 of anthrax, and on examination found free from rods, was inocu- 

 lated into the tail of a mouse. In twenty-four hours the 

 mouse died with symptoms of anthrax. Immediately after 

 death, the blood and spleen were found to be literally swarming 

 with rods. Ewart says the spores are motionless. Tempera- 

 tures of 40° C. and above, and — 40° C. and under, check the 

 development of both rods and spores. Free oxygen is neces- 

 sary to the activity of the bacillus, and Pasteur terms this 

 characteristic ' aerobic.' Carbonic anhydride destroys it. Thus 

 putrefaction, in which this gas is generated, is not compatible 

 with anthrax. After death the rods putrefy, and the spores 

 remain intact. High pressure of oxygen destroys the filaments 

 and not the spores, though Ewart asserts they are inactive. 

 Desiccation kills the filaments, and a temperature less than 

 100° F. Spores retain their vitality for extremely long periods 

 in the dried state. 



I have myself partaken daily for some days of roasted beef 

 from an ox killed because affected with splenic fever, without 

 unpleasant results. Boiling for two minutes entirely destroys 

 rods and spores in all conditions, fresh or old, dry or moist. 

 Both rods and spores retain their vitality if hermetically sealed 

 and kept at a low temperature — near freezing-point. They 

 exhibit all the phenomena of their existence in various fluids, 

 and may be cultivated in many vegetable and animal infusions, 

 as that of cucumber, hay, malt, or fowl-broth ; also in neutral 

 or alkaline solution, as the urine of some herbivora. 



When the bacilli or spores are introduced into the suscep- 

 tible animal system, certain conditions are produced which 

 are specific ; and though manifesting themselves in various 

 ways, these conditions are recognised under the general term 

 * anthrax.' 



The manner in which the bacterium gains the circulation is 

 still somewhat obscure. Cohn — from the fact that the glands 

 in the course of infection are tumefied, and contain bacteria — 

 concludes that the symptoms are due to some poison, the pro- 

 duct of bacteria, and that these remain in the glands in large 

 numbers ; and are first taken up by the lymphatics, pass 

 through them to the glands, and thus to the blood-stream. 

 Toussaint contradicts this, showing the symptoms to be coin- 



13—2 



