804 MICROBIOLOGY OF DISEASES OF MAN AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



gives rise to a carbuncle hence the name "malignant pustule." It 

 occurs most frequently among employees of tanneries, wool-sorters, 

 veterinary surgeons, and those whose occupation brings them into 

 touch with infected animals, their hides or products. 



The incubation period is a short one, even in the naturally occurring 

 disease; inoculated laboratory animals die in twenty-four to forty- 

 eight hours. The bacteria appear in the blood about fifteen hours 

 after inoculation, and at death the blood simply swarms with the or- 

 ganism. The veins are turgid, and the blood is often very dark, and 



FIG. 169. Anthrax. The organisms of anthrax in the capillaries of the liver of a 

 mouse. {After Williams.} 



coagulates slowly. The bacteria abound in the capillaries (Fig. 

 169). The spleen is enlarged and contains enormous numbers of the 

 organisms. In the kidney the glomeruli and tubules are gorged 

 with the bacteria, which pass into the urine. The bacteria can pass 

 into the milk of females in lactation. The bacteria are also numerous 

 in the liver, lungs and mesentery, but few are found in the muscles. 



Post-mortem examination of subcutaneously inoculated laboratory 

 animals shows subcutaneous oedema and enlarged spleen. 



The organism is eliminated from the body in urine, faeces, mucous 

 discharges, etc. Pastures become infected from burying anthrax 

 carcasses which have been opened or have been skinned, thus favoring 



