138 



outbreaks of anthrax in this country, arising, as they do, under such a 

 variety of conditions. For instance : The process of fermenting 

 hay-chop, if not properly and carefully carried out, experience shows 

 to be very dangerous. This process consists of saturating chopped 

 hay with cold water, or cold water and treacle, mixing it with sliced 

 turnips, and letting the mixture lie until fermented — that is until the 

 starchy matters have been converted into their sugary form. Should 

 this, however, be carried too far, viz., through the sugary to the 

 acetous stage (and this is easily done by leaving some of the old chop 

 and mixing it with the new — a little leaven leaventh the whole lump), 

 and the cattle be fed on this for any length of time — a fortnight, or even 

 less — bad results generally follow, more particularly if some food rich 

 in nitrogen, such as decorticated cotton cake has been added to the 

 mixture. I have, on six separate occasions, known anthrax to have 

 followed this method of preparing the food and feeding; and, on 

 changing the food to a simple diet, the malady was always arrested. 

 On two other occasions anthrax followed the feedmg of cattle with 

 over-macerated cummings, left too long exposed to the action of the 

 atmosphere, when they were rendered as sour as vinegar. Whether 

 the method of manipulating the food renders it into such a condition 

 that when eaten it has some peculiar action on the fluids and solids of 

 the body, whereby they are converted into a suitable pabulum, or seed 

 bed, favourable for the entrance and development of the spores of the 

 disease ; or whether the spores are in the foods and are roused into 

 activity by the methods of preparation, I am unable to say. Again, 

 on the other hand, several outbreaks have also occurred on undrained 

 pasture lands. On one occasion, in 1862, the complaint broke out 

 amongst 25 two-year-old short-horn heifers, of which six died in two 

 days, and they were only ailing from two to four hours ; the remaining 

 ig were removed to another pasture, and each one got a dose of 

 medicine, composed of six ounces each of common salt and Epsom 

 salts and two ounces of ginger, in one quart of thin >gruel. A few 

 days after, 16 of the heifers took red-water, but they all eventually did 

 well, and the disease spread no further. The land on which this 

 outbreak of anthrax occurred had been noted for generations as a 

 hot-bed for red-water in cattle. For twelve years after, red-water was 



