528 BUEEAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



disease in a mild form, with the eruption at a point of election, and 

 render the danj^er of complication a minimum one. For inoculation 

 the discharge from the pustules of a mild case should be selected and 

 inoculated by scarification on the belly or the under surface of the 

 neck. 



AXTHEAX. 



[Synonyms: Carbuncle, splenic fever, splenic apojAexy, hraxi/ (in sheep), etc.; sneer 

 ignis, pustula maligna, anthrax, Latin; charbon, sang de rate, Frencli; miltzbrand, 

 German; carbone, carhoncMo, fiioco de St. Antonio, Italian; jasim, siberskaji jas^ra, 

 Russian. ] 



Dcfinitloii. — Anthrax is a severe and usuall}' fatal contagious disease, 

 characterized b}" chills, great depression and stupor of the animal, and 

 a profound alteration of the blood, ^.i is caused \)y the entrance into 

 the animal's body of a bacterium, known as the BaciUns anthracir,^ or 

 its spores. 



Practically all animals are susceptible to anthrax. The hcrbiv^- 

 ora are especially susceptible, in the following order: The sheep, tlie 

 ox, and the horse. The guinea jjig, the hog, the rabbit, mice, and 

 other animals die cptickly from its effects. Man, the dog, and other 

 omnivora and carnivora may be attacked b}^ it in a constitutional form 

 as fatal as in the herbivora, but fortunate!}', in many cases, develop 

 from it only local trouble, followed by recovery. 



Anthrax has been a scourge of the animals of the civilized world 

 since the first written history we have of any of their diseases. In 

 1709-1712 A. D. extensive outbreaks of anthrax occurred in German}', 

 Hungary, and Poland. In the first half of the present century it had 

 become an extensively spread disease in Russia, Holland, and Eng- 

 land, and for the last century has been gradually spreading in the 

 Americas — more so in South America than here. In 1864, in the five 

 governments of Petersburg, Novgorod, Olonetz, Twer, and Jaroslaw, 

 in Russia, over 10,000 horses and nearly 1,000 persons perished from 

 the disease. 



Causes. — The causes of anthrax were for a long time attributed 

 entirely to climatic influence, soil, and atmospheric temperature, and 

 they are still recognized as predisposing factors in the development of 

 the disease, for it is usually found, especially when outbreaks over any 

 number of animals occur, in low, damp, marshy countries during the 

 warm seasons. It is more frequent in districts where marshy lands dry 

 out during the heat of summer and are then covered with light rains. 

 Decaying vegetable matter seems most favorable for nourishing and 

 preserving the virus. 



The direct cause of anthrax is always infection of a previously sound 

 animal, either directly from a diseased animal or through various media 

 which contain excretions or the debris from the body of a previously 

 infected animal. 



