72 LABORATORY BACTERIOLOGY 
EXERCISE XXIII 
BACTERIUM ANTHRACIS 
108. Anthrax is a disease affecting cattle and man. Bact. 
anthracis is interesting because of its spores, which are very 
resistant to disinfectants. Because of its striking morphology 
it can be differentiated microscopically in fresh tissues. In 
tissues some hours after death there is a putrefactive organism 
that resembles it morphologically. Bact. anthracis can be 
diagnosed in cultures. 
109. Work for this exercise. Examine and describe each 
of the cultures of this organism made during the last exercise. 
Examine microscopically the bouillon and agar cultures in 
both hanging-drop and stained cover-glass preparations. 
Measure a few of the bacteria in a stained preparation and 
make a drawing of them magnified 1000 diameters. 
Make a series of 2 agar plates from the bouillon culture. 
Examine sections of animal tissue containing anthrax bac- 
teria. Make and examinea few cover-glass preparations from 
the liver of an animal (guinea pig or rabbit) which has just 
died of anthrax. (This will be furnished by the instructor.) 
In notes state whether or not a microscopic examination of 
tissues is sufficient to make a diagnosis of anthrax. 
Inoculate a tube of glycerin agar, one of egg medium, and 
one of glycerin bouillon from a culture of avian tubercule 
bacteria for study in Exercise XXVIII. 
110. Making cover-glass preparations from tissues. With a 
pair of fine forceps take up a bit of tissue from the freshly cut 
liver, spleen, or kidney, and rub it gently over the surface of a 
clean cover glass, care being taken that the film of tissue is thin. 
Allow this to dry in the air, after which pass the cover glass, 
film up, 3 times through the flame to fix the tissue to the 
glass. It can be stained the same as the cover-glass preparations 
