CHANNELS OF INFECTION. 231 
inhaled in the form of spray, indicates that this is not a common 
mode of infection in the absence of spores. This view receives 
further support from the experiments of Hildebrandt, who made 
tracheal fistula in three rabbits, and, after the wound had entirely 
healed, injected into the trachea of each a pure culture of the anthrax 
bacillus, which was proved to be virulent by inoculation in mice or 
guinea-pigs. All of the animals remained in good health. On the 
other hand, three rabbits which received in the same way a pure cul- 
ture of the bacillus of rabbit septicaemia died as a result of general 
infection. 
That man may be infected with anthrax by way of the respira- 
tory organs seems to be well established. In England the disease 
known as “‘ wool-sorter’s disease” results from infection in this way 
among workmen engaged in sorting wool, which is liable to contain 
the spores of the anthrax bacillus when obtained from the skin of an 
animal which has fallen a victim to this disease. That infection 
occurs through the lungs is shown by the fact that these organs are 
first involved, the disease being, in fact, a pulmonic anthrax. 
While these experiments prove the possibility of infection through 
the respiratory mucous membrane, other experiments made by Hil- 
debrandt show that under ordinary circumstances bacteria suspended 
in the air do not reach the trachea in rabbits, but are deposited upon 
the mucous membrane of the mouth, nares, and fauces. In healthy 
rabbits the tracheal mucus was, as a rule, found to be free from bac- 
teria, while they were very numerous in mucus obtained from the 
mouth or nares. But when a rabbit was made to inhale for half an 
hour an atmosphere charged with the spores of Aspergillus fumigatus 
their presence in the lungs was demonstrated by cultivation, the ani- 
mal being killed for the purpose half an hour after the inhalation 
experiment. 
The rapidity with which infection may occur is shown by the 
experiments of Nissen, Pfuhl, and others. In mice inoculated with 
anthrax bacilli at the tip of the tail fatal anthrax has resulted, 
although the tail was amputated ten minutes after the inoculation. 
Schimmelbusch inoculated fresh wounds with anthrax cultures (in 
mice) and immediately after treated the wounds with strong anti- 
septic solutions, but the animals succumbed to infection. Cultures 
of the anthrax bacillus have been obtained from the liver, spleen, and 
kidneys half an hour after the infection of an open wound on the 
surface of the body (Schimmelbusch and Ricker). The experiments 
of Sherrington and others show that pathogenic bacteria may escape 
by way of the kidneys into the bladder, or through the liver into the 
gall bladder. But his experiments indicate that such escape does not 
occur through healthy organs. Non-pathogenic bacteria injected 
