Suppression and Prevention of Anthrax in Herds. 219 



paratively long series. Many habitually self limiting diseases 

 relapse in particular individuals. Even in the case of anthrax 

 excess of glucose in the system, and the lack of some unknown 

 influence of the spleen are respectively destructive of immunity. 

 Even after the Pasteurian inoculation a certain number of inocu- 

 lated animals are lost, it may be between the first and second 

 injection, or it may be " two or three months" after the latter 

 (Galtier) . We must also bear in mind that in an infected herd 

 or flock, there are always a certain number already infected at the 

 time of the protective inoculation, and as the protective conditions 

 are slowly established, through the action of the leucocytes, it is 

 unreasonable to expect that serious illness and death can be obvi- 

 ated in such animals. 



In inoculation with the Pasteur lymph, the bacillus is held not 

 to enter the blood, a position supported by the researches of 

 Bitter, Perroncito, Wissokovicz, lyubarsch, Metchnikoff, Cham- 

 berland and Roux, so that the resulting immunization must come 

 from the toxins. Add to this that Chauveau (1885), conferred 

 immunity on a sheep by injecting intravenouslj', anthrax' blood, 

 defibrinated and sterilized by heat : Arloing obtained immunity 

 in the sheep by injecting, subcutem, the clear supernatant liquid 

 from old bouillon cultures of anthrax, from which all bacilli had 

 been precipitated. Roux and Chamberland obtained the same 

 result by using the pulp of an anthrax spleen treated with 

 essential oil of mustard, so as to destroy the life of the bacillus, 

 and then evaporated in vacuo to remove the essence. Smaller 

 doses proved effective, than when the splenic pulp had been 

 filtered or sterilized by heating to 58° C. 



The advantages of using sterilized toxins are numerous : — 



ist. As the material can be derived from a case of the outbreak 

 in hand, there is no risk of using the anthrax protective inocula- 

 tion for black quarter, hsemorrhagic septicaemia or other disease 

 which is so often confounded with it. 



2d. There is no danger of the sudden enhancing of the potency 

 of a weakened microbe on account of some condition of the 

 animal inoculated, as no living microbe is employed. 



3d. There is no possibility of planting the anthrax bacillus, on 

 new soil, as is so liable to take place in using the weakened 

 microbe. 



