ANTHRAX. 269 



suit of vital processes connected with the nutrition 

 of the bacillus. Paul Bert has been able to isolate 

 a poison, diffusible in liquid, which kills in twelve 

 hours. This he accomplished by destroying the 

 bacillus in a fluid containing it by means of com- 

 pressed oxygen. Toussaint, also, by injecting fil- 

 tered anthrax blood, obtained evidence of the 

 presence in it of a poison which, in his experi- 

 ments, produced only a local inflammation, with- 

 out any noticeable constitutional symptoms. 



The discovery, which we owe to Koch, that, 

 under favorable conditions, the anthrax bacillus, 

 either in culture-fluids or in the body of a dead 

 animal, develops refrangant, endogenous spores, 

 which have great resisting power against heat and 

 chemical reagents, and may be preserved for years 

 without loss of vitality, has enabled us to account, 

 in a most satisfactory manner, for certain facts 

 which previously seemed to be irreconcilable with 

 a belief in the parasitic-germ theory. Thus Bert 

 treated anthrax blood, which he had received from 

 Alfort, with three times its volume of absolute 

 alcohol, then washed the coagulum in alcohol, and 

 dried it in vacua. This material, mixed with water 

 and again precipitated by alcohol, proved to be 

 virulent when injected into guinea-pigs. Even 

 after remaining for five months immersed in alco- 

 hol, this virus had not lost its potency. 



These facts were explained by Pasteur, and, in a 

 subsequent communication, Bert himself explained 

 the mystery. Further experiments had convinced 



