ANTHRAX. 275 



abundantly in this blood, growing into long fila- 

 ments and forming spores, as in the culture in 

 chicken bouillon. On the 13th, two minims of this 

 blood-culture were injected into a small rabbit, 

 and a still smaller quantity into another mouse. 

 The mouse died on the following day, and the 

 rabbit on the 16th. Upon post-mortem examina- 

 tion an abundance of bacilli were found in the 

 blood, liver, and spleen of both of these animals. 

 My only object being to obtain a stock of an- 

 thrax virus, and material from which to make some 

 photo-micrographs of Bacillus anthracis, the experi- 

 ments were not pursued any further. 



If we were without satisfactory experimental 

 evidence that the Bacillus anthracis is the cause of 

 the disease anthrax, we could scarcely suppose any 

 longer that its presence in this disease is without 

 import, a mere epi-phenomenon, in the face of 

 such evidence as that given by Koch in the 

 following extract from his work on " Traumatic 

 Infective Diseases " (Sydenham Society's transla- 

 tion) : 



" Although I had often previously examined the 

 blood of animals suffering from anthrax, and had thus 

 formed a high estimate as to the number of bacilli pres- 

 ent in the body of an anthracic animal, yet I was quite 

 surprised when I saw for the first time sections and por- 

 tions of organs stained in this way [in methyl-violet, 

 with carbonate of potash, see p. 187], as e. g., the in- 

 testinal mucous membrane and the iris of a rabbit. 

 When magnified fifty diameters, such a preparation 



