XXV. 
in such a way to the stimuli set up, and so successfully, that tolerance is 
established, and the disease is not of very great moment after the lapse of 
generations, when by the influence of hereditarily transmitted adaptation, 
the organisms are powerless for mischief. This subject, however, is replete 
with so many difficulties at present, and the ground is so untrodden, that 
reluctantly we must leave it, and pass on. 
In this connection, a few words will shew the dreadful nature of 
anthrax, and the supreme importance of looking for remedies both 
curative and preventive of all diseases, which affect man and animals. 
No one is of greater interest, than that most disastrous scourge, which goes 
by the name of anthrax. All animals are liable to attack, including birds 
and even fishes. No clime is exempt from its ravages. In past times, this 
‘disease raged as a malignant and destructive epizootic in man and animals. 
The 17th and 18th centuries were especially remarkable for devastations 
made by severe outbreaks. In 1617, the malady was so fatal, that over 
60,000 people died around Naples, from eating the flesh of animals which 
had died from the effects of these insidious inroads of the Bacilli Anthracis. 
Anthrax in man is known as woolsorters’ disease in this country, and also 
‘as the so-called malignant pustule, which is developed as the result of local 
inoculation, produced by handling the wool of animals which have died from 
anthrax, or by contact of an absorbed or inflamed surface with a diseased 
carcase. In Northern Asia, it is known as the Siberian plague. Although it 
does not frequently affect the horse in this country, anthrax is of common 
occurrence among the equine tribe as Loodianah disease in Central India. 
It is well-known in Southern Africa, as the Cape horse sickness ; and also in 
Australia, where it is called the Cumberland disease ; and in North America 
and South America. As Texas fever, in the United States, it is of frequent 
occurrence, and makes severe havoc among the cattle there. According to 
Toussaint, animals of the value of 20,000,000 francs, die annually of splenic- 
fever .in France. : 
In certain districts of England it is not unknown, being greatly dreaded 
at times by owners of stock, and with good reason. Have any therapeutic 
measures been found which will stay the growth of germs, and thus prevent 
the inroads of contagious diseases? It is well here to state emphatically 
what we shall have occasion to reiterate as we proceed, viz.: that very much 
more is known scientifically, than is dreamed of by the populace. Everyday 
our knowledge grows. Mr. D. Gresswell administered sulphite of sodium 
extensively as a preventive in cases which were exposed to the infection of 
anthrax, foot-and-mouth disease, and cattle plague, and found that this 
medicine was of great value in the case of the two former diseases, and also 
of some value in the third. The value of these measures in the case of the 
first two diseases has been corroborated by ourselves. 
- We may here quote a few passages from Finlay Dun’s “Veterinary 
Medicines,” in order to show our readers what influence this drug has in 
preventing the development of disease. “Professor Polli, of Milan, made 
about 300 experiments with the acid sulphite of sodium, mostly upon dogs, 
