460 (JENEEAL DISEASES. 



if they were cut out of a single piece of wood. The amount of 

 swelling, however, greatly varies. 



In the abdominal form of anthrax, the rectum is sometimes 

 turned inside out. There are, in some cases, tumours containing 

 yellow (serous) fluid about the flanks, under-part of the belly, and 

 scrotum. 



The GENERAL SYMPTOMS of this disease are those of impeded 

 respiration, and of infiltration into the various tissues. Hence 

 the painful breathing, the interference with the functions of the 

 brain, the semi-paralysed condition of the patient, and the local 

 swellings. 



PROSPECTS OF RECOVERY.— The only cases at all hopeful, 

 are those in which the rise of internal temperature is not very 

 great. Although the question of mortality is most difficult to 

 answer, the recoveries, under good treatment, average about 20 per 

 cent, of those attacked. 



POST-MORTEM APPEARANCES.— The venous blood looks like 

 so much liquid tar ; and the arterial is thick and dark-coloured. 

 The blood from both systems of vessels coagulates far less readily 

 than in health. The colour of the lungs varies from dark red to 

 black. The various internal organs, as well as the other struc- 

 tures, are, frequently, discoloured by the infiltration of dark, 

 altered blood. Generally, the spleen is distended with dark-coloured 

 blood, and its tissues are softened and broken up, almost to the con- 

 sistence of a fluid. The spleen in the large majority of cases, is 

 much heavier than usual, and is affected in almost every case of 

 this disease. When swellings have appeared about the neck, a 

 large quantity of thick yellowish fluid will be found under the 

 skin of that part. Similar fluid may be found in the interior of 

 the chest ajid belly. The mucous membrane which lines the wind- 

 pipe exhibits an inflamed appearance. The air-passages are often 

 filled with bloody foam. The rigor mortis (stiffness of the 

 muscles after death) lasts but a short time, and the body rapidly 

 decomposes. 



NATURE OF THE DISEASE.— Anthrax is caused by the presence, in 

 the blood and tissues, of the bacillus anthracis, which is one of the disease - 

 producing bacteria (p. 446), and may be found after death in great abund- 

 ance in the internal organs, and especially in the spleen. These microbes 

 occur in the shape of snort rods, which appear incapable of forming spores 

 in the Hving body of an infected animal, or even after its death, as long 

 as the skin and mucous membranes remain intact ; a free supply of oxygen 

 being seemingly necessary for their spore formation. It appears that the 

 cause of the symptoms of anthrax is the poison or poisons formed by the 

 ferment or ferments manufactured by the bacilli anthracis. In support of 

 this view we have the fact that all the symptoms of anthrax can become 



