334 MANUAL OF BACTERIOLOGY. 



oculated with virulent cultures of the anthrax bacillus septi- 

 cemia is produced. Large numbers of the bacilli are found in 

 the blood, and may be crowded together in the capillaries of the 

 liver and kidneys. Men are occasionally affected, especially 

 those whose occupation brings them in contact with cattle or 

 with the hides and wool of animals that die of the disease. The 

 infection usually occurs through wounds of the skin, where it 

 produces a localized inflammation known as malignant pustule. 

 Anthrax of the lungs or "wool-sorter's" disease may be acquired 



FIG. 83. Bacillus of anthrax. Stick-culture in gelatin. (Gunther.) 



by inhalation of material containing the spores of the bacilli. 

 Infection by way of the intestine occurs occasionally but is less 

 common. Laboratory workers engaged in studying the 

 anthrax bacillus have been accidentally infected in a number of 

 instances. 



The anthrax bacillus, owing to its large size, was the first 

 of the pathogenic bacteria to be recognized, and its study has 

 furnished the basis for much of our knowledge concerning the 

 infectious diseases. It was for anthrax that Pasteur developed 

 the idea of making a protective vaccine, shortly after he had 



