254 A MANUAL OF BACTERIOLOGY 



the infection and even increase its rapidity of 

 spreading, especially in the lungs, and that in some 

 cases the bacilli, instead of being rendered inert, 

 appear to take on greater activity, and to be carried 

 in the various currents in the body, even to parts 

 situated at some distance from the original tubercu- 

 lous focus.' According to Dr. Cornil, tuberculous 

 affections of the skin are ameliorated by Koch's 

 remedy, but it should be sparingly employed in the 

 incipient stages of phthisis ; and it is useless, and 

 even dangerous, in advanced and acute cases of 

 phthisis. Nevertheless, Professor Koch has made a 

 great advance in the therapeutic treatment of infec- 

 tious diseases. 1 



ANTHRAX. 



The disease known as anthrax, splenic fever, 

 splenic apoplexy, or malignant pustule, is a disease 

 affecting man and animals. ' In some countries the 

 losses to agriculturists and farmers owing to the 

 fatal character of the disease in sheep and cattle is 

 enormous. In man it is chiefly known among wool- 

 sorters and those engaged in the handling of hides. 

 This disease has been definitely proved to be due to 

 the Bacillus anthracis, which, after its entry into the 

 system of an animal or human being, multiplies very 

 rapidly in the blood and spleen, and, as a rule, pro- 

 duces a fatal result, at any rate in sheep and cattle.' 



1 Various methods for treating phthisis are detailed in the 

 author's book: Researches on Micro -Organisms, pp. 286-3] 9 

 (Bailliere & Co.) ; and see also Dr. Drewitt's paper in Trans. 

 Clin. Soc., 1887. Drewitt treated a child suffering from lupus 

 partly by scraping and partly by salicylic acid. 



