626 APPLICATION OF METHODS OF BACTERIOLOGY 



fluid about the point of inoculation short bacilli are present 

 in large numbers. These often present slight swellings at 

 the middle or near the end. They are not seen as threads, 

 but lie singly in the tissues. Occasionally two will be seen 

 joined end to end. If the autopsy be made immediately 

 after death, these organisms may not be detected in the 

 internal organs; but if not made until after a few hours, 

 they will be found there also. In recent autopsies only 

 vegetative forms of the organism may be found; but later 

 (in from twenty to twenty-four hours) spore-bearing rods 

 may be detected. (How does this compare with bacterium 

 anthracisf) By successive inoculations of susceptible 

 animals with serous fluid from the site of inoculation of the 

 dead animal the disease may be reproduced. 



Cattle, sheep, goats, guinea-pigs, and mice are susceptible 

 to infection with this organism, and present the conditions 

 above described; whereas horses, asses, and white rats 

 present only local swelling at the site of inoculation. Swine, 

 dogs, cats, rabbits, ducks, chickens, and pigeons are, as a 

 rule, naturally immune from the disease. 



Though closely simulating the bacillus of malignant 

 edema in many of its peculiarities, this organism can 

 nevertheless, be readily distinguished from it. It is smaller; 

 it does not develop into long threads in the tissues; it is 

 more actively motile, and forms spores more readily in the 

 tissues of the animal than does the bacillus of malignant 

 edema. In their relation to animals they also differ; for 

 instance, cattle, while conspicuously susceptible to symp- 

 tomatic anthrax, are practically immune from malignant 

 edema; and while swine, dogs, rabbits, chickens, and 

 pigeons are readily infected with malignant edema, they are 

 not, as a rule, susceptible to symptomatic anthrax. Horses 



