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not found in the blood until an hour or so before death, although 

 they may be present in the spleen and other internal organs. For 

 their formation and development, they require a quantity of oxygen, 

 and rob the blood of this element ; not only this, but these bacilli are 

 said to emit from their bodies a peculiar material, or virus, which is 

 thought by some to be more the immediate cause of death than either 

 the loss of oxygen from the blood or the blocking up of the small 

 blood-vessels. When experimenting outside the body, and the bacilli 

 are placed in a suitable nutrient material, and at a proper temperature, 

 they develop very quickly, and form a sort of chain like filament, 

 whereas those in the body resemble small rods, and multiply by 

 transverse sections, and extend in length. The bacilli, when supplied 

 with oxygen, generates spores or seeds for the next generation, and as 

 an illustration a pea pod full of peas may be taken, the pod being 

 likened to the bacilli, while the peas resemble the spores or seeds. 

 As the spore formation also requires a large quantity of oxygen, it 

 rarely takes place inside of the body, but when an animal that has 

 died from anthrax is skinned or opened into, and the blood and tissues 

 exposed to the action of the air, spore development readily takes place, 

 and as they are considered the real seeds of the disease, it is, therefore, 

 dangerous to open the dead body of an anthrax subject ; it tends to 

 spread the malady. It is the safest and best plan to bury the body 

 intact, for in the space of 40 to 50 hours after death, the putrefactive 

 bacteria of the body destroys all the existing anthrax bacilli, and further 

 danger is averted. The bacilli themselves can be destroyed by excess 

 of heat or cold, or chemical agents, but the spores are difficult to deal 

 with ; they can withstand almost any amount of heat or cold, and can 

 lie for years in the soil without their virulent nature being affected. 



328. When a beast is attacked with vSplenic Apoplexy, or Anthrax, it, 

 as a rule, proves fatal in a few hours. Should any animal, therefore, be 

 found to have died very suddenly, either in the field or byre, and to be 

 very much swollen, with its rectum turned out, and a bloody mucous 

 discharge coming from nose, mouth, rectum, and vagina, as these 

 secretions are most dangerous, it is recommended that the carcase be 

 carefully removed — tying cloths over its orifices — and buried without 



