Suppression and Prevention of Anthrax in Herds. 211 



oculating material from the blood of the living animal, or from the 

 same or the tissues as shortly after death as possible. Fifteen hours 

 may be altogether too late for inoculation. To exclude the anae- 

 robic bacteria of black quarter, malignant oedema and septic affec- 

 tions, make an emulsion of the suspected material in sterilized 

 water, filter through a boiled cloth and inject a strong dose into 

 the auricular vein of a rabbit. The anaerobic bacteria perish in 

 the blood and if anthrax bacilla are present they are found in 

 pure cultures. 



In inoculating suspected water or infusion of forage the intra- 

 venous method should be adopted. 



Another resort is to make two artificial cultures, one in free air, 

 and the other in an atmosphere of nitrogen or carbon dioxide. 

 The bacillus anthracis develops in the first, the anaerobes in the 

 second. 



Prognosis. Mortality. Fulminant cases are uniformly fatal. 

 Acute intestiiial cases are usually fatal in 70 to 90 per cent, of the 

 subjects at the beginning of an outbreak. Toward the decline 

 most cases may recover. In a herd of 200 head, at Avon, N. Y. 

 in 1875, 40 fat bullocks died in two weeks, and 50 more showed 

 a marked hyperthermia, yet under a change of pasture, and anti- 

 septics, all but two of the latter recovered. As serving to identify 

 the disease, three attendants suffered from malignant vesicle, but 

 recovered. 



SUPPRESSION AND PREVENTION OF ANTHRAX IN 



HERDS. 



Less simple or easy than in plagues. Germ survives in soil and water 

 Extinction not always possible. Killing : conditions demanding it : when 

 unwarranted. Kill without shedding blood, or opening carcass. Body 

 burned : if buried, 5 feet deep, in porous soil, distant from wells, ponds, 

 and rivers. Fence graves, burn grass. Disinfection of hides, litter, fodder, 

 manure, excretions, stalls, etc. : of bodies that must be moved, of buildings, 

 yards, utensils, etc. Isolation of unaffected on porous soil ; surveillance. 

 Sales interdicted. Milk, butter, cheese. Immunization : by toxins which 

 stimulate leucocytes to form defensive products : antitoxins. Eosinophile 

 cells, action of spleen, and liver. Mellituria. Protection by a minimum 

 dose : by weakened virus — modes of lessening potency, Pasteur's " vaccine ", 

 its drawbacks and dangers, its technique ; by soluble toxins in sterile solu- 



