204 ANTHKAX. 



vatioDS of primary localization in the digestive tract date only from 

 the middle of the last century. 



Of 63 cases of anthrax in man, collected by Slessarewskji (Amer. 

 Journ. Med. Sciences, 1887), the disease showed itself 6 times on 

 the face, 21 on the neck, and 36 in other places. Various theories 

 have been advanced in explanation of the immediate cause of death 

 of animals and persons infected with anthrax. In the most viru- 

 lent form, the anthrax acutissimus, Bollinger believes that the rapid 

 growth of the bacillus in the blood brings about a sudden diminu- 

 tion of oxygen and a surplus of carbonic acid, and that death takes 

 place by a slow process of asphyxia. Against this theory it can be 

 maintained that in the blood of animals which have died of the 

 acutest form of the disease very few bacilli can be found; and 

 further, that in the experiments made by Nencki on the blood of 

 rabbits which had died of this form of anthrax it was found as 

 capable of oxygenation as the blood of healthy animals. The 

 theory that death results from purely mechanical causes due to the 

 presence of bacilli in great abundance in the bloodvessels is like- 

 wise not tenable, because no such fatal degree of obstruction in the 

 capillary circulation has been found at the post-mortem examina- 

 tions. 



As a third hypothesis, Bollinger advanced that the bacillus may 

 generate a chemical poison which may cause death by intoxication. 



In reference to the last-mentioned cause, Hoifa (Die Natur des 

 Milzbrandgiftes, Wiesbaden, 1886) calls attention to the following 

 three possibilities: 



1. The bacilli of anthrax are in themselves poisonous, and with 

 the increase in their number the quantity of the poison is increased 

 in the same ratio. Against this supposition the results of the ex- 

 periments made by Hoffa, himself, furnish the most conclusive 

 proof. Of a pure culture of anthrax bacilli he injected a large 

 quantity directly into the jugular vein of rabbits. The animals 

 thus infected showed no symptoms of acute intoxication, but died 

 in the same manner as animals infected in the usual manner. 



2. The bacilli of anthrax produce a poison capable of producing 

 fermentation in the blood, and which is soluble in the blood. The 

 fact that filtered blood of animals which had died of anthrax did 

 not produce toxic symptoms when injected into healthy animals 

 speaks against this argument. 



3. The bacillus of anthrax separates toxic substances from com- 

 plex combinations in the organism. This last explanation appears, 

 from analogy of the views that are now entertained of bacteria and 

 ptomaines, to be the most plausible, and Hoffa went at the task to 

 produce such substances outside of the animal body upon artificial 

 culture media. For this purpose he cultivated the bacillus with 



