ANTHRAX 137 



only be stained by heating for twenty minutes or more on 

 warm carbol-f uchsine, or by first ' flaming ' nine to a dozen 

 times. 



The spores will retain their vitality unimpaired for years 

 if kept dry and not much exposed to the light. 



Direct sunlight has an inhibitory and injurious effect on 

 both bacilli and spores. It is stated by Schild that the 

 spores are destroyed in one hour by a O'l per cent, solution 

 of formalin. Boiling kills the bacilli in a few seconds, while 

 the spores may be able to resist this treatment for ten minutes 

 or more. The spores will live in a 1 per cent, solution of 

 phenol for a week, whereas the bacilli may die in two 

 minutes, and a 5 per cent, solution will only kill the spores 

 in about twenty-four hours. In the interior of a body 

 dead of anthrax, the specific bacilli are killed off by a putre- 

 factive organism in about a week. The spores of anthrax, 

 being among the most hardy of the common bacteria, are 

 often used in the testing of disinfectants, but it must here 

 be remembered that the spores from various sources are not 

 uniform in their powers of resistance. 



Pathogenesis. — It occurs in great numbers in the blood of 

 animals which have died of anthrax. In one instance it 

 was found in the mud at the bottom of a well in Southern 

 Eussia. Animals drinking at this particular well had 

 become infected, and a search was accordingly made for 

 the specific organism. 



Both bacilli and spores remain in fleeces, and may 

 thus transmit the disease to those engaged in handling 

 them. 



The Bacillus anthracis produces anthrax or splenic fever 

 in cattle and man, and malignant pustule, or wool-sorter's 

 disease, in man. It is pathogenic to the following animals, 

 which are arranged roughly in order of their susceptibility : 

 mice, guinea-pigs, rabbits, cattle, horses, human beings. 



