THE BACILLUS OF ANTHRAX. 333 



Martin (1890) has studied the chemical products in filtered cul- 

 tures of the anthrax bacillus and obtained the following results: 



1. Protoalbumose, deuteroalbumose, and a trace of peptone. The 

 mixed albumoses were found not to be poisonous except in consider- 

 able doses 0.3 gramme injected subcutaneously killed a mouse 

 weighing twenty-two grammes ; smaller doses produced a local 

 oedema. A fatal dose caused extensive oedema, coma, and death in 

 twenty-four hours ; the spleen was sometimes enlarged. Boiling 

 neutralizes to a considerable extent the toxic power. 



2. An alkaloid, soluble in water and in alcohol, but insoluble in 

 benzol, chloroform, or ether. The solutions have a strongly alkaline 

 reaction, and crystalline salts are formed with various acids. This 

 alkaloid is somewhat volatile, and when exposed to light loses to a 

 considerable extent its toxic properties. It produces symptoms simi- 

 lar to those resulting from inoculations with the albumoses, but is 

 more toxic and more prompt in its action. The animal quickly falls 

 into a state of coma ; there is extensive oedema about the point of 

 inoculation, and the spleen is usually enlarged. The fatal dose for a 

 mouse weighing twenty -two grammes is from 0.1 to 0.15 gramme ; 

 death occurs within two or three hours. 



3. In addition to these toxic substances small quantities of leucin 

 and of tyrosin were found in the filtered cultures. 



Recently (1892) Petermann has made a series of experiments with 

 filtered cultures of the anthrax bacillus which lead him to the con- 

 clusion that "large quantities of a culture in serum from the ox, fil- 

 tered through porcelain, injected into the veins of a susceptible 

 animal, have a preventive action ; but the immunity thus conferred 

 is transitory, not lasting longer than a month or two." 



Pathogenesis. The anthrax bacillus is pathogenic for cattle, 

 sheep, horses, rabbits, guinea-pigs, and mice. White rats, dogs, and 

 frogs are immune, as is also the Algerian race of sheep. The spar- 

 row is susceptible to general infection, but chickens, under normal 

 conditions, are not. Young animals are, as a rule, more susceptible 

 than adults of the same species. Man does not belong among the 

 most susceptible animals, but is subject to local infection as a result 

 of accidental inoculation malignant pustule and to pulmonic an- 

 thrax from breathing air, containing spores of the anthrax bacillus, 

 during the sorting of wool or hair from infected animals. In animals 

 which have a partial immunity, natural or acquired, as a result of 

 inoculations with attenuated virus, the subcutaneous introduction of 

 virulent cultures may give rise to a limited local inflammatory pro- 

 cess, with effusion of bloody serum in which the bacillus is found in 

 considerable numbers ; but the blood is not invaded, and the animal, 

 after some slight symptoms of indisposition, recovers. In susceptible 



