430 THE BACILLUS OF ANTHRAX. 



covery may occur after subcutaneous or intravenous injection of a 

 very small number of bacilli. 



Infection in cattle and sheep commonly results from the ingestion 

 of spores while grazing in infected pastures. The bacillus itself, in 

 the absence of spores, is destroyed in the stomach. While spores are 

 not formed in the bodies of living animals, their discharges contain 

 the bacillus, and this is able to multiply in them and to form spores 

 upon the surface of the ground when temperature conditions are 

 favorable. It is probable that this is the usual way in which pastures 

 become infected, and that the bloody discharges from the bladder 

 and bowels of animals suffering from the disease furnish a nidus for 

 the external development of these reproductive elements ; as also do 

 the fluids escaping from the bodies of dead animals. And possibly, 

 under specially favorable conditions, the bacillus may lead a sapro- 

 phytic existence for a considerable time in the superficial layers of the 

 soil. 



Buchner has shown by experiment that infection in animals may 

 result from respiring air in which anthrax spores are in suspension 

 in the form of dust ; and in man this mode of infection occurs in the 

 so-called wool-sorters' disease. 



The question of the passage of the anthrax bacillus from the 

 mother to the foetus in pregnant females has received considerable 

 attention. That this may occur is now generally admitted, and ap- 

 pears to be established by the investigations of Strauss and Chamber- 

 lain, Morisani, and others. That it does not always occur is shown, 

 however, by the researches of other bacteriologists, and especially by 

 those of Wolff. 



Sirena and Scagliosi (1894) report, as the result of extended experi 

 ments made by them, that anthrax spores may survive in distilled 

 water for twenty months; in moist or dry earth for two years and 

 nine months; in sea-water for one year and seven months; in sewage 

 nearly sixteen months. 



Marmier (1895) has made an extended experimental research to 

 determine the nature of the specific toxin of the anthrax bacillus. 

 This he obtains from cultures, at a low temperature, in media con- 

 taining peptone and glycerin. It has not the reactions of an albu- 

 minoid body and is not destroyed by a temperature of 100 C. In 

 comparatively large doses it kills animals susceptible to anthrax, and 

 by the administration of smaller doses immunity may be established 

 in such animals. This toxin is contained in the bacterial cells, and 

 is obtained by subjecting these to the action of alcohol, or from the 

 filtrate when cultures are made at a low temperature in a medium 

 containing peptone. It has not, however, been obtained in a pure 

 form, and its exact nature has not been determined. 



