CHAPTER IV 

 ANTHRAX 



Bacillus -Anthracis (Koch) 



General Characteristics. — A non-motile, non-flagellated, sporogenous, liquefy- 

 ing, non-chromogenic, pathogenic, aerobic bacillus staining by the ordinary 

 methods and by Gram's method. 



The disease of herbivora known as anthrax, "splenic fever," 

 " Milzbrand," and "charbon," is a dreaded and common malady in 

 France, Germany, Hungary, Russia, Persia, and the East Indian 

 countries. In Siberia the disease is so common and malignant as to 



Fig. 127. — Bacillus anthracis; colony three days old upon a gelatin plate; 

 adhesive preparation. X 1000 (Frankel and PfeifiEer). 



deserve its popular name, "Siberian pest." Certain districts, as the 

 Tyrol and Auvergne, in which it seems to be endemic, serve as foci 

 from which the disease spreads in summer, afflicting many animals, 

 and ceasing its depredations only with the advent of winter. It is 

 not rare in the United States, where it seems to be chiefly a disease 

 of the summer season. 



Herbivorous animals are most frequently affected, especially 

 cows and sheep. Carnivorous animals are less often affected, 

 though not immune. Among laboratory animals, white mice, house- 

 mice, guinea-pigs, and rabbits are highly susceptible; rats, scarcely 



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