ANTHRAX. 67 
Here the bacilli are frequently arranged in long chains 
which have an appearance which has been compared to 
that of a bamboo; chains occur in the blood or in the 
inflammatory exudate, but are usually much shorter 
than those seen in cultures. But the most important 
feature in cultivation of the anthrax bacillus is the 
development of spoves which are oval highly refractile 
bodies, which lie in or near the centre of the bacilli, one 
in each. These spores are possessed of tough capsules, 
which resist the action of the ordinary stains much in 
the same way as the tubercle bacillus does. Thus it 
happens that in films of a cultivation of the anthrax 
bacillus which have been stained with such a dye as 
methylene blue the spores are readily seen as colourless 
and refractile oval areas in the centre of the bacilli, the 
latter being stained blue. The spores themselves may 
be stained by a modification of the process used for the 
tubercle bacillus. The films are first stained by heated 
carbol-fuchsin, which penetrates slowly through the 
capsule; they are then decolorised by a very vapid 
immersion in dilute sulphuric acid and examined micro- 
scopically. If the red colour has been entirely removed 
by the spirit they are ready to be counterstained by 
methylene blue; if not they must be dipped in the spirit 
once more and re-examined. When this process is 
successful the spores are stained red and the bacilli 
blue. 
The presence of spores enables us to isolate the bacilli 
from most of the organisms with which it is likely to be 
contaminated by a very simple process. The spores 
resist the action of heat just as they resist stains, and 
for the same reason, and suitable temperature will kill 
off all the non-sporing organisms and spare the spores. 
The latter may then be inoculated at a suitable tem- 
F2 
