SPORE-FORMING PATHOGENIC ORGANISMS 70 



hour, or by exposure to a disinfectant which has been 

 certified as effective for the destruction of anthrax spores, 

 and approved by the Secretary of State. Eurich, the 

 bacteriologist to the Anthrax Investigation Board, said 

 (1909) that no trustworthy method of sterilising the wool 

 before washing had been found. In 1913, Eurich and 

 Willey conducted experiments in regard to the use of 

 steam as a disinfectant, as a result of which their Board 

 agree that disinfection by steam cannot be applied to 

 ordinary wool or hair except under conditions that would 

 stop any trade in the sorts so treated. The method can, 

 however, be applied to blood-stained material that has 

 been sorted out or otherwise separated from the bulk, 

 so that blood-stained material need no longer be regarded 

 as absolute loss, but as a waste product. 



A process of destroying carcasses involves solution of 

 the entire animal in sulphuric acid. The Anthrax Order of 

 the Board of Agriculture (1911) provides for prosecution 

 for causing an effusion of blood, and no one may burn, 

 bury, or otherwise dispose of the carcass without the 

 sanction of the local authority. 



The Tetanus Bacillus. 



Morphology. B. tetani is a straight, slender, rod 4 ju, 

 long, with rounded ends. It is slightly motile, possessing 

 many peritrichic ilagella. Especially in old cultures, long 

 filaments are formed which show no spores. Spherical 

 spores are frequent, which, being located at one end, and 

 being thicker than the bacillus, gives the ' drumstick 

 appearance.' The bacillus is Gram-positive. 



Culture. The tetanus bacillus is a ' strict ' anaerobe, 

 although Jordan states that a degree of tolerance to 

 oxygen can be established, and that it will grow in a 

 mixed culture when air is admitted. In glucose-gelatin 

 or glucose-agar stab culture, a feathery radiated growth is 

 formed with slight gas-formation. Gelatin is liquefied. 

 All cultures possess a characteristic smell, suggestive of 

 an ill-kept stable. The organism grows well on blood- 

 serum without liquefaction. 



Theobald Smith has shown that the bacillus will grow 

 in ordinary broth in a fermentation tube if a piece of 

 sterile tissue, such as a piece of liver, kidney, or spleen 

 of guinea-pig or rabbit, be inserted where open bulb and 



