Anthrax in Man. 261 



water, or from the same source through the medium of flies or 

 windblown dust, yet undoubted cases of this kind are rare or un- 

 recognized. The animal origin of the disease, as regards man, 

 makes this largely an industrial affection, attacking shepherds, 

 cattlemen, horsemen, farmers, drovers, butchers, veterinarians, 

 tanners, and workers, in hides, wool, hair, bristles, furs, hoofs, 

 bones, rags, felt, glue and even leather. The sound skin is suffi- 

 cient protection, but the slightest abrasion may form an infection 

 atrium. Workers in tanneries and those who live near them are 

 notoriously subject to anthrax. The hides must of course be 

 .drawn from an anthrax region. Russian, Armenian, South 

 American, Australian and African. Hides have an especially 

 bad reputation. The British Medical Journal, May 21st, 1898, 

 records cases occurring in postal clerks who had to handle foreign 

 parcels bound with strips of hide. Proust records cases from 

 handling Chinese goat skins (Bull d. I'Acad. de Med. 1894). In- 

 fection may also occur through leather made from infected hides 

 as proved experimentally on Guinea pigs. 



Hair has long been recognized as a frequent medium of 

 infection and outbreaks among brushmakers have been re- 

 cently recorded by Gerode, Sarmont, and Chauveau (Compt. 

 Rende de 1' Academic des Sciences, 1893), Trousseau reports 

 twenty cases in Paris all contracted from South American horse- 

 hair. "Wool from infected countries is often dangerous and has 

 given rise to special names for the disease (wool sorters', rag- 

 pickers' , which may develop in the lungs from inhalation of the 

 dust. In the same way those who handle bones about fertilizer, 

 glue and rendering works are particularly exposed. The 

 agency of insects in man is undoubted. In 60 cases recorded 

 by Dr. Bell, 54 were on the face, two on the hands, one on the 

 wrist, and one on the fore arm. This is mainly due to 

 blood-sucking flies, yet Heim incriminates the Coleoptera as 

 well (Compt. Rend, de Soc. de Biol. 1894). Wounds of all 

 kinds contribute to inoculation, hence, the presence of bur- 

 -docks, thorns, thistles and the like in the matted wool or hair 

 is often a direct cause of infection. 



The infection may be transferred on surgical instruments, and 

 in these days of hypodermic medication the greatest care is 

 necessary to prevent accidental inoculation with the needle. 



As in animals man suffers from ingestion and inhalation of 



