526 



be tliroiigli witli it at once. If the weather is moderate all the animals 

 which have not been affected can be inoculated, which will produce 

 the disease in a mild form, with the eruption at a point of election, 

 and render the danger of complication a minimum one. For inocula- 

 tion the discharge from the pustules of a mild case should be selected 

 and inoculated by scarification on the belly or the under surface of 

 the neck. 



ANTHRAX. 



Synonyms: Sacer ignis, PustuJa maligna, Anthrax, Latin; Char- 

 hon, Sang de Bate, French; Miltzbrand, German; Carhone, Carhon- 

 cli io, Fiioco de St. Antonio, Italian ; Jaswa , Siherskaji Jasiva, Russian ; 

 Carbuncle, Splenic Fever, Splenic Apoplexy, Braxy (in sheep), etc. 



Anthrax is a severe and usually fatal contagious disease, charac- 

 terized by chills, great depression and stupor of the animal, and a 

 profound alteration of the blood, due to destruction of the red blood 

 corpuscles. It is caused by the admission into the animal body of 

 bacteria, or low order of living organisms, or their spores, known as 

 the "hacilhis of Davaine'' or ''hacillus anthracis.'' 



It affects all animals exposed to its contagion. Tlie herbivora are 

 especially susceptible in the following order: the sheep, the ox, and 

 the horse. The Guinea pig, the hog, the rabbit, mice, and other ani- 

 mals die quickly from its effects. Man, the dog, and other omnivora 

 and carnivora may be attacked by it in a constitutional form as fatal 

 as in the herbivora, but fortunately, in some cases, develop from it 

 only local trouble, followed by recovery. Fowls may be inoculated 

 and develop the disease if they are partially immersed in cold water, 

 to reduce their natural body temperature from 104° to about 100° F. 

 Frogs may be inoculated successfully if kept in warm water, which 

 will elevate their body temperature to one approximating that of the 

 warm-blooded animal, 9G°-98° F. 



Anthrax has been a scourge of the animals of the civilized world 

 since the first written history we have of any of their diseases. It 

 existed in Asia Minor at the time of the siege of Troy; it was a plague 

 of the cattle of Egypt during the time of Moses. It was a severe pest 

 among the agricultural animals in the early Greek and Roman days, 

 and we have very accurate accounts of its symptoms from the writings 

 of Columella, Varro, Yirgil, and others. r>y the writers of the Middle 

 Ages it was frequently confounded with the rinderpest, but is described 

 with sufficient precision to identify outbreaks of it in epizootic form 

 in 99G A. D. and 1090 A. D. in France; in 1552 at Lucca, Italy; in 1017 

 at Naples, where numbers of human beings died from eating the flesh 

 of animals which were affected with the disease. 



In 1598 the senate of Venice interdicted the sale of meat, butter, or 

 cheese coming from animals affected with anthrax. In 1709-1712 

 A. D. extensive outbreaks of anthrax occurred iii Germany, Hungary, 

 and Poland. In the first half of the present century it had become an 



