200 INFECTIVE DISEASES. 



The characteristic sign after death is enlargemeat of the spleen 

 to three or four times its natural size. It is not only enlarged, 

 but extremely soft and dark in colour. Blood spots are visible on 

 the internal organs generally, and' the intestine often contains a 

 quantity of blood. The examination of a drop of blood will show 

 \inder the microscope the characteristic bacilli. It is, however, 

 quite unnecessary to make an elaborate post-mortem examination 

 in order to satisfy oneself whether the disease is really anthrax or 

 not. If an animal has died suddenly and has created a suspicion 

 of anthrax, all that it is necessar}' to do is to cut cff an ear — or a 

 foot in the case of a sheep — and make a cover-glass preparation at 

 the first opportunity. 



A farmer with a case of anthrax must be made to realise the 

 fact that an enormous quantity of poisonous material has to be 

 dealt with. In fact, an infected animal is more dangerous when 

 dead than alive. The owner or person in charge must immediately 

 notify to a police constable the existence, or even a suspicion of 

 the existence, of the disease. Prompt measures must be taken 

 to destroy the carcass and all traces of the blood, and thus to 

 reduce to a minimum the chance of the disease spreading to the 

 rest of the stock, and of creating fresh outbreaks in the future. 

 Every possible precaution must be taken to prevent the blood of 

 the dead animal from contaminating the pasture, byre, or water 

 supply. The rest of the stock should be removed from the pasture 

 or cowshed where the disease has broken out. It is desirable to 

 give a complete change of food and water, and the whole of the 

 stock should be examined every day for a week, and any animals 

 showing a rise of temperature should at once be isolated from the 

 rest. Preventive inoculation has been recommended to protect 

 the rest of the stock, but there is not sufficient evidence of the 

 safety . of the process to lead to the adoption of this treatment. 

 Animals ready for the butcher may be removed from the risk of 

 infection by immediate slaughter. To disinfect the pasture the 

 best plan is a heavy top-dressing of lime, and after six weeks 

 stock may be readmitted, though not without some risk. If 

 year after year cases of anthrax occur on a particular pasture, 

 the most obvious precaution is to keep stock from it altogether 

 and convert it into arable land. As roots grown on anthrax- 

 infected soil have been known to convey the disease, the wisest 

 course if we have to deal with a small field or comparatively 

 small tract of land is to throw it out of cultivation or to plant 

 it with trees. 



