PART III.] Rapid Appearance of Organisms after Death. 589 



It was then determined to ascertain whether the bacilli found in the blood of 

 animals which had been set aside for a few hours after death would manifest, under 

 like conditions, similar changes during their growth. Eats were obtained, killed by 

 means of chloroform, and set aside for from three to twenty-four hours, or longer, 

 according as the temperature of the atmosphere was high or low. The result proved 

 that, almost invariably, bacilli were to be found in their blood, in the spleen, and in 

 other organs. On one occasion the rapid appearance of organisms after death was 

 exemplified in a somewhat remarkable manner, and possibly the mode of death was 

 not without some influence in determining their exceptionally early and plentiful 

 appearance. 



The man employed to procure the rats determined that he would get a sufficient 

 number to last for some time, and proceeded to a large granary with his rat-traps. 

 Having, however, found that he could procure more than could be accommodated in 

 the cage which he had brought with him, he obtained a large earthen vessel, transferred 

 twenty-seven rats into it, and tied a piece of cloth over the mouth of the vessel. As 

 may be supposed, the rats had perished before he got home — all except one. 



I examined the blood and the spleen of twenty of these rats within about six to 

 eight hours of their having been caught, and found in each case that there were 

 innumerable bacilli present, in every way morphologically identical with Bacillus 

 anthracis. In some of the cases the number was astonishing. They were present 

 chiefly in the form of rods, but here and there some were seen to have grown to such 

 a length as to cover two fields of the microscope. 



This experience tends to give support to the statement made by M. Signol before 

 the French Academy to the effect that motionless bacilli, identical with those found 

 in charbon, will be found in sixteen hours or less after death in the blood of animals 

 which have been asphyxiated by means of a charcoal fire. M. Signol, moreover, found 

 that eighty drops of this blood would kill a goat or a sheep very rapidly, notwithstanding 

 that putridity could not be detected, so far as appearance and odour went ; but that 

 bacilli would not be found in the blood of the inoculated animals, either before or 

 immediately after death.* 



It has been urged that the microphytes which appear in the blood after death 

 simply make their way into it from the intestinal canal as a result of the breaking 

 down of the tissues. This objection is certainly no longer tenable, for many observers 

 have shown that if some of the organs be removed from the body immediately after 

 death, or indeed isolated from the circulation whilst the animal is still alive and 

 under the influence of chloroform, these organisms will nevertheless appear if the 

 preparation be kept for some hours at a suitable tempeiature. 



Some of the specimens of blood which furnished several of the preparations about 

 to be described were obtained in this manner. Eats, mice, kittens, etc., were placed 

 under chloroform, and either killed and placed on one side for some hours ; or, whilst 

 * Covipten MeiidvH, t. Ixxxi, p. 1116, December 187.'5. 



