250 Veteritiary Medicine. 



the same, or the tissues as shortly after death as possible. Fif- 

 teen hours may be altogether too late for inoculation. To ex- 

 clude the anaerobic bacteria of black- quarter, malignant oedema, 

 and septic affections, make an emulsion of the suspected material 

 in sterilized water, filter through a boiled cloth, and inject a 

 strong dose into the auricular vein of a rabbit. The anaerobic 

 bacteria perish in the blood, and, if anthrax bacilli are present, 

 they are found in pure cultures. 



In inoculating suspected water or infusion of forage the intra- 

 venous method should be adopted. Another resort is to make 

 two artificial cultures, one in free air, and the other in an atmos- 

 phere of nitrogen or carbon dioxide. The bacillus anthracis de- 

 velops in the first, the anaerobes in the second. 



Prognosis. Mortality. Fulminant cases are uniformly fatal. 

 Acute intestinal cases are usually fatal in 70 to 90 per cent, of 

 the animals attacked at the beginning of an outbreak. Toward 

 the decline most cases may recover. In a herd of 200 head, at 

 Avon, N. Y., in 1875, 40 fat bullocks died in two weeks, and 

 50 more showed a marked hyperthermia, yet under a change of 

 pasture and antiseptics, all but two of the latter recovered. As 

 serving to identify the disease, three attendants suffered from 

 malignant vesicle, but recovered. 



SUPPRESSION AND PREVENTION OF ANTHRAX 

 IN HERDS. 



Less simple or easy than in plagues. Germ survives in soil and water. 

 Extinction not always possible. Killing : conditions demanding it ; when 

 unwarranted. Kill without shedding blood or opening carcass. Body 

 burned ; if buried, five feet deep, in porous soil, distant from wells, ponds 

 and rivers. Fence graves, burn grass. Disinfection of hides, litter, fodder, 

 manure, excretions, stables, etc. : of bodies that must be moved, of build- 

 ings, yards, utensils, etc. Isolation of unaffected on porous soil ; surveil- 

 lance. Sales interdicted, milk, butter, cheese. Immunization : by toxins 

 which stimulate leucocytes to form defensive products : anti-toxins. Eosin- 

 ophile cells, action of spleen and liver. Mellituria. Protection by a mini- 

 mum dose, by enfeebled virus — modes of lessening potency, Pasteur's 

 "vaccin," its drawbacks and dangers, its technique; by soluble toxins in 

 sterile solution, author's experience, apparent failures, advantages. Drain- 

 age — aeration of land. Prevention of importation and diffusion. Thera- 

 peutic treatment. 



