NATURAL ANTHRAX IN ANIMALS. 303 



tion are quickened ; rigors occur, succeeded by high 

 temperature ; there is a sanguineous discharge from the 

 bowels, and bloody mucus may be observed about the 

 mouth and nose. There may be convulsive movements, 

 there is progressive weakness, with cyanosis, death occurring 

 in from twelve to forty-eight hours. In the more prolonged 

 cases widespread oedema and extensive enlargement of 

 lymphatic glands are marked features ; and in the glands, 

 especially about the neck, actual necrosis' with ulceration 

 may occur, constituting the so-called anthrax carbuncles. 

 Such subacute conditions are especially found among horses, 

 which are by nature not so susceptible to the disease as 

 cattle and sheep. 



On post-mortem examination of an ox dead of anthrax, 

 the most noticeable feature one which has given the name 

 " splenic fever " to the disease is the enlargement of the 

 spleen, which may be two or three times its natural size. 

 It is of dark-red colour, and on section the pulp is very 

 soft and friable, sometimes almost diffluent. A cover-glass 

 preparation may be made from the spleen and stained with 

 watery methylene-blue. On examination it will be found 

 to contain enormous numbers of bacilli mixed with red 

 corpuscles and leucocytes, chiefly lymphocytes and the 

 large uninucleated variety (Fig. 82). Pieces of the organ 

 may be hardened in absolute alcohol, and sections cut in 

 paraffin. These are best stained by Gram's method. Micro- 

 scopic examination of such shows that the structure of the 

 pulp is considerably disintegrated, whilst the bacilli swarm 

 throughout the organ, lying irregularly amongst the cellular 

 elements. The liver is enlarged and congested, and may 

 be in a state of acute cloudy swelling. The bacilli are 

 present in the capillaries throughout the organ, but are not 

 so numerous as in the spleen. The kidney is in a similar 

 condition, and here the bacilli are chiefly found in the 

 capillaries of the glomeruli, which often appear as if injected 

 with them. The lungs are congested and may show catarrh, 

 whilst bacilli are present in large numbers throughout the 

 capillaries, and may also be found in the air cells, probably 



