SUNSHINE AND LIFE 79 



The anthrax bacillus cannot produce the hardy 

 spore form within the bodies of animals, but it 

 does outside. Now it has been shown that the 

 bacilli of anthrax taken from the blood of an 

 animal dead of anthrax are destroyed rapidly in 

 ordinary River Thames water, for example, but 

 that if the temperature of the water to which 

 they gain access is somewhat higher than usual, 

 such bacilli are able to sporulate or produce 

 spores in the water, and in that hardy form can 

 retain their vitality and virulence for several 

 months. 



That anthrax bacilli can produce spores in 

 water under certain conditions has not hitherto 

 been dwelt upon in discussing the question of 

 their vitality in water, and it is of obvious im- 

 portance in connection with the action of sunshine 

 on anthrax germs in water, knowing as we now 

 do the very different manner in which the spores 

 and bacilli respectively behave when under the 

 influence of the sun's rays. 



It was not, perhaps, unnatural that rash assump- 

 tions as to the efficacy of sunshine should have 

 been readily accepted when such remarkable feats 

 performed on microbes by sunshine were being 

 continually put forward. 



Thus it has been found that insolation, even 

 when it does not destroy, may effect profound 



