511 



teria, or low order of living organisms, or their spores, known as the 

 ^^ bacillus of Davaine'"' ov '■'• bacillus anthracls.'" 



It affects all animals exposed to its contagion. The 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 animals 

 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 101° to about 100° F. Frogs may be in- 

 oculated successfully if kept in warm water, which will elevate their body 

 temperature to one approximating that of the warm-blooded animal, 

 9GO-9SO 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 Eomau days, and we 

 have very accurate accounts of its symptoms from the writings of 

 Columella, Varro, Virgil, and others. By the writers of the Middle 

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

 with sufficient j)recision to identify outbreaks of it in epizootic form in 

 99G A. D, and 1090 A. D. in France ; in 1552 at Lucca, Italy : in 1617 

 at !N"aples, where numbers of human beings died from eating the flesh 

 of animals which were affected with the disease. 



In 1593 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 in Germany, Hungary, and 

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

 tensively spread disease in Russia, Holland, and England, and for the 

 last century has been gradually spreading in the Americas ; more so in 

 South America. In ISGl, in the five governments of Petersburg, Nov- 

 gorod, Olonetz, Twer, and Jaroslaw, in Russia, over ten thousand 

 horses and nearly one thousand persons perished from the disease. 



The causes of anthrax were for a long time attributed entirely to 

 climatic influence, soil, and atmospheric temperature, and they are 

 still recognized as most important iiredisposing factors in the develop- 

 ment of the disease, for it is usually found, especially when outbreaks 

 over any number of animals occur, in low, damp, marshy countries 

 during the warm seasons. It is more frequent in districts where marshy 

 lands dry out during the heat of summer and are then covered with 

 light rains. Decaying vegetable matter seems most favorable for nour- 

 ishing and preserving the virus. 



The direct cause of anthrax is always contagion or infection of a pre- 

 viously sound animal, either directly from a diseased animal or through 



