i6 



prevalent among young animals. Anthrax also attacks sheep and pigs, and 

 is not uncommon among other animals. In dogs also it is occasionally met 

 with in those which have partaken of the diseased flesh of creatures which 

 have died of anthrax. 



In man, anthrax is often derived from cases of splenic fever of animals, 

 and it is known as " woolsorters' disease" in this country, and as the 

 " Siberian plague " in Northern Asia. In the human species anthrax may 

 also occur as the so-called malignant pustule, which is developed as the 

 result of local inoculation from handling infected wool of animals which have 

 died of anthrax, or from the contact of an injured surface with the diseased 

 carcases. 



Althouoh anthrax is now of rare occurrence in the horse in this countiy, 

 it frequently raged as a malignant and destructive epidemic in man and the 

 domesticated animals in past times. This disease was known at a veiy early 

 date. It is mentioned in the scriptural records as the "grievous murrain and 

 blains " which affected man and beast in the days of the captivity of the 

 Israelites in the land of Egypt, and we read that the murrain was then upon 

 the horses, asses, camels, oxen, and sheep."^ Anthrax was also described by 

 old Greek and Latin writers. The former termed it anthrax, which signifies 

 a burning coal. The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were especially 

 remarkable for the devastations made by many severe outbreaks of this 

 plague. In 1617 the malady was of so fatal a type that over 60,000 people 

 died around Naples alone from eating of the flesh of animals which"Tiad died 

 of the disease. At the present day anthrax often rages as splenic fever in 

 Siberia. As Loodianah disease it is of more frequent occurrence in Central 

 India, and is well known in Australia as the Cumberland disease. In South 

 Africa it is spoken of as the Cape horse sickness, and it is also met with in 

 North and South America. As "Texas fever" in the United States it is of 

 common occurrence, and makes serious ravages among the cattle. According 

 to Toussaint, animals of the value of 20,000,000 francs die annually of splenic 

 fever in France. 



Of late years our knowledge of the nature, causes, and methods of 

 prevention of anthrax has, owing to the labours of scientists, been 

 considerably increased ; yet it is remarkable that— although in France and 

 Germany matters are different— in England there is, as far as we know, no 

 enactment which enables anyone to interfere with the disposal of carcases of 

 animals which have died of the disease, nor are there any specified regulations 

 regarding the drainage of lands on which splenic fever appears periodically. 



Regarding the causes of anthrax, we may mention that it is especially 

 prevalent in low-lying, swampy districts, where the soil is rich in organic 

 matter, these conditions being in the highest degree favourable for the 



"Exodus, c. ix., V. 3.—" Behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon, 

 the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep ; there shall be a very 



Exodus, c. ix., V. 10. — "And the}"- took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and 

 Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven ; and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man,, 

 and upon beast." 



Vide also, Deuteronomy, c. xxviii., v. 27 and 35. 



