118 LABORATORY BACTERIOLOGY 
practicable except when large numbers of diagnoses are being 
made or when anthrax is suspected in material difficult to 
analyze bacteriologically. 
See Annales de Médecine Vétérinaire, 60° année, N°. 6, 
p. 321, also Archiv. f. wiss. u. prakt. Tierheilk., 38 Bd.s. 207. 
Animal inoculations. For this mice or guinea pigs are pre- 
ferred. They can be inoculated either by placing small pieces 
of the suspected material under the skin or by crushing the 
tissue in sterile salt solution and injecting it hypodermically. 
Guinea pigs will die in from 1 to 3 days. Pure cultures may 
be obtained from the organs (liver, spleen, or blood). The 
bacteria appear in large numbers in cover-glass preparations or 
in sections of the liver, spleen, or kidneys. 
When it is necessary to send specimens to a laboratory for 
diagnosis, the blood or any organ may be chosen when the 
disease is generalized, as is usual in ruminants. In animals 
where the disease is localized the specimen must be taken from 
the lesions. In case blood is sent, about 20 cc. should be drawn 
and securely packed. A diagnosis can often be made from 
the blood which is contained in the ear. Specimens should 
be taken immediately after the death of the animal. 
It is important that blood of anthrax animals should not 
be allowed to contaminate the immediate surroundings. 
