CHAPTER IV. 

 ANTHRAX. 



BACIIXUS ANTHRACIS (KOCH). 



General Characteristics. A non-motile, non-flagellated, spor- 

 ogenous, liquefying, non-chromogenic, pathogenic, aerobic bacillus 

 staining by the ordinary methods and by Gram's method. 



The disease of herbivora known as anthrax, "splenic fever," 

 "Milzbrand," and "charbon," of infrequent occurrence in 

 this country and England, is a dreaded and common malady 

 in France, Germany, Hungary, Russia, Persia, and the 

 East Indian countries. In Siberia the disease is so common 



Fig. 122. Bacillus anthracis; colony three days old upon a gelatin 

 plate; adhesive preparation. X 1000 (Frankel and Pfeiffer). 



and malignant as to deserve its popular name, "Siberian 

 pest." Certain districts, as the Tyrol and Auvergne, in 

 which it seems to be endemic, serve as foci from which the 

 disease spreads in summer, afflicting many animals, and 

 ceasing its depredations only with the advent of winter. It 

 is not rare in the United States, where it seems to be chiefly 

 a disease of the summer season. 



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