ANTHRAX 89 
9. Saumon. An Examination of Pasteur’s Va@ine for Rouget. Annual Report 
U.S. Bureau of Animal Industry, 1885, p. 187. 
10. Scnurz. Ueber den Rotlauf der Schweine und die Impfung mit demselben. 
Arbeit a. d. Kaiserlichen Gesundheistamte, Bd. I (1885), S. 56. 
11. Sersotp. Beitrag zur Feststellung des Rotlaufs der Schweine mit Hilfe der 
Thermo-pracipitinreaktions nach Ascoli. Zeit. f. infek. d. Haust., Bd. XIII, S. 91. 
_12. SairH. Swine erysipelas or mouse septicemia bacilli from an outbreak of swine 
disease. Annual Rept. U. S. Bureau of Animal Industry, 1895-96, p, 166. 
ANTHRAX 
Synonyms. Splenic fever; splenic apoplexy; wool sorters’ disease; 
malignant pustule; anthracemia; mycosis intestinalis; charbon; 
Milzbrand. 
Characterization. Anthrax is an infectious disease occurring 
sporadically and in epizoétics in herbivora and omnivora and com- 
municable to nearly all warm-blooded animals, and to man. It is 
characterized by a high temperature, the presence in the diseased 
tissues or liquids of Bacterium anthracis, by an enlarged spleen, blood 
extravasations and by local gangrene. It usually occurs in the acute 
form. 
Nearly all species of animals suffer from anthrax. The herbivora 
and rodents are most susceptible. Horses and mules often suffer 
from it. M’Fadyean has reported outbreaks aggregating 54 cases, of 
which 49 were cattle, 4 horses and 1 pig. He states also that for a 
period of 5 years there had been reported 192 cases in horses and 3,390 
in cattle. It is interesting to note that the Algerian race of sheep 
are immune. A satisfactory explanation for this striking exception 
has not been recorded. It has been stated that a single bacterium 
introduced into the subcutaneous connective tissue of a guinea pig or 
mouse is sufficient to kill it. Cats, tame and wild rabbits and hares 
are the next most susceptible species. It is stated that dogs, pigs and 
foxes are very slightly susceptible. Rats, fowls and pigeons are re- 
ported to beimmune. Fish and amphibia are rarely attacked. 
History. Anthrax is among the oldest of the known infectious 
diseases of animals. Descriptions of epidemics and epizodtics of this 
disease are given by Homer, Plutarch, Livy and other writers before 
the Christian Era. The Arab physicians designated it as “Persian 
Fire.” Extensive outbreaks are mentioned in the literature of the 
fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. 
Chabert pointed out in 1780 that the various kinds or forms of the 
