INDUSTRIAL ANTHRAX 259 



Under the Factories and Workshops Act 1895 all 

 cases of anthrax contracted in connection with various 

 industries have now to be reported to the Home Office. 

 In 1909, 56 cases, in 1910, 51 cases were thus reported, 

 with mortalities of 21*5 and 17' 6 per cent, respectively. 

 In addition, in 1910 there were 31 other cases in England 

 and Wales. 101 cases of Anthrax occurred in 1913 with 

 10 deaths as follows : 



Industries Cases Deaths 



Wool 43 4 



Horsehair .... 5 1 



Hides and Skins . . .19 2 



Other Industries ... 3 

 Not^ reportable ... 31 3 



101 10 



Industrial anthrax has also been exhaustively dealt 

 with by Legge. 1 It is particularly Persian wool, Chinese 

 hides, and Russian hair which are dangerous, while 

 Argentine, Australian, and New Zealand wools are 

 almost innocuous. The sorting and exclusion of wool 

 derived from infected animals seem to be impracticable, 

 and the efficient sterilisation of the thousands of bales 

 that are imported an impossibility. As regards hides 

 and skins, Legge points out that it is doubtful if there is 

 any way in which hides to be afterwards tanned can be 

 effectively disinfected, and to be of real benefit it would 

 have to be done before the material is opened in the 

 warehouse ; but to secure this would be impossible. A 

 method introduced by Seymour Jones has been favourably 

 reported on 2 ; it consists in soaking the skins for twenty- 

 broncho-pneumonia, ulcerating stomatitis, etc. They are shortish, non- 

 motile, non-sporing rods, usually Gram-negative, easily cultivated and 

 not liquefying gelatin, and in the tissues surrounded with a capsule. 



1 Brit. Med. Journ., 1905, vol. i, pp. 529, 589, and 641. 



2 Ponder, Report to the Worshipful Company of Leathersellers, 1911. 



