12 



animal inoculated with the smallest drop of anthracic blood, 

 provided it contains bacilli or their spores, dies within 24 

 or 36 hours — and then in the capillaries of the liver, spleen, 

 lungs, kidneys and stomach incredible numbers of these bacilli 

 can be seen permeating this portion of the vascular system, 

 whilst in the larger vessels even in the arteries and veins of 

 an intestinal villus they may be entirely absent or only seen 

 at long intervals — and it is remarkable that in the capillai-ies 

 of the brain, skin, muscle and tongue there are fewer than 

 elsewhere. The development of such numbers in so short a 

 time appears almost incredible. The bacillus subtilis however, 

 which is not parasitic, but otherwise very much like bacillus 

 anthracis in all respects, with a good supply of food and oxygen 

 and a temperature of 30" C. (86" F.), doubles its length and 

 divides once every thirty minutes, forming two separate or- 

 ganisms. By an easy calculation therefore, we find that at the 

 end of twenty-four hours the progeny of such a bacillus in- 

 creasing at such a rate, would amount to upwards of eight 

 hundred millions of millions. 



In anthrax it would seem to be quite clear, then, that the 

 bacillus will give rise to the disorder. There can be little doubt 

 also that woolsorters' disease, malignant pustule, and intestinal 

 anthrax in the human subject are developed from the same source. 



As an example of a disease connected with a spirillum or 

 spirochseta we have that of relapsing fever; a disorder in the 

 spread of which it is certain, that contagion from the sick or 

 through the intervention of ai'ticles of daily use plays a very 

 important part. During the febrile condition of the patient, 

 a slender thread-like and twisted organism, which is never 

 still, but always moving about in various directions, is found 



