I30 



ANTHRAX 



Chabert pointed out in 1780 that the various kinds or forms 

 of the disease, which had previously been described as independ- 

 ent affections, were all one disease. As late as 1805, Kausch 

 gave a good description of anthrax but denied its contagious- 

 ness. Delafond and Gerlach thoroughly investigated ovine 

 anthrax in 1854 and its contagiousness was experimentally 

 shown by Gerlach. In 1850, Heusinger published a very 

 comprehensive treatise on anthrax which deals at length with 

 its history and geographical distribution. 



Much new information concerning the nature of anthrax 

 was acquired during the fifth decade of the last century. 



In 1855, Pollander an- 

 nounced the discovery, 

 which he first made 

 in 1849, o t minute 

 unbranched rod-shaped 

 bodies in the blood of 

 cattle dead of anthrax. 

 Davaine observed simi- 

 lar bodies in 1850. 

 Then followed a long 

 series of observations 

 and somewhat contro- 

 versial discussions on 

 the bacterial origin of 

 the disease, culminat- 

 ing by Robert Koch's 

 careful description of 

 the morphology of its 

 specific organism including the spore formation in 1876 

 (1877 Pasteur). Cohn, however, seems to have been the first 

 to have called the organism a Bacillus and to have suspected 

 the existence of spores. Toussaint, in 1880, and Pasteur in 

 1881, published results of investigations directed toward pro- 

 tective inoculation. Since that time, the literature on the 

 cause, morbid anatomy and prevention of anthrax has become 

 very extensive. 



Fig. 21. Anthrax bacteria in an im- 

 pression preparation made from a colony 

 on an agar plate culture. 



