MICROBIAL DISEASES OF MAN AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS 787 



effected by, either the cultivation of the infected pasturage, or by 

 securely fencing it in. 



Bibliography 



Jordan, E. O. and Harris, N. MacL., Jour. Infect. Diseases, 1909, vi, 401. 



Luckhardt, A. B., ibid., p. 492. 



Walsh, W. E., Illinois Med. Jour., 1909, xv, 422. 



Moseley, E. L., Med. Rec, 1909, Ixxv, 839; 1910, Ixxvii, 620. 



Clay, A. J., IllSnois Med. Jour., 1914, xxvi, 103. 



Harris, N. MacL., Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences, 19x5, vi, 522. 



Symptomatic Anthrax or Blackleg* 

 Bacillus antkracis symptomatici 



Blackleg, black quarter, symptomatic anthrax, quarter ill, are syno- 

 nyms employed to designate this disease. 



Symptomatic anthrax is a very old disease and until recent years has 

 been confused with true anthrax. This disease is widely distributed, 

 affecting practically all countries and cHmates. 



It is enzootic, never spreading widely or rapidly, and is often found 

 in certain infected valleys and in relatively small areas. Young cattle, 

 generally under two years of age, are most commonly affected, but 

 sheep and goats are susceptible to this infection. 



This disease is infectious by inoculation, perhaps also by in- 

 gestion, and usually acute. Subcutaneous and muscular tissues are 

 especially affected. Its most prominent and characteristic feature is 

 swelling, affecting most frequently, the front or hind quarters, and 

 never extending below the knee or hock. As a rule, the bacillus 

 of symptomatic anthrax produces a very acute disease with severe 

 constitutional disturbances. 



, The bacillus of symptomatic anthrax has been clearly demonstrated 

 to be the specific cause of blackleg, infection occurring by inoculation. 

 The period of incubation in the natural disease is uncertain. ' Under 

 artificial inoculation this period varies from two to three days and is 

 occasionally as short as one day. 



This bacillus produces in culture a very active toxin. This toxin 

 is quite resistant to heat. That the bacillus of symptomatic anthrax 

 stimulates the prodiiction of antibodies and that the injury is done by 



* Prepared by M. H. Reynolds. 



