STATE HYGIENE 583 



the temperature falls below 55° F., which accounts for a 

 certain degree of immunity possessed by the British 

 Islands. There are parts of the Continent where the 

 disease is enzootic, but nowhere does it assume such 

 alarming proportions as in tropical Asia, especially in 

 certain parts of our Indian possessions. 



One unpleasant circumstance connected with this disease 

 is the fact that the number of cases recorded in Great 

 Britain is on the increase. Professor Axe has recently* 

 made a careful analysis of the official returns, and espe- 

 cially draws attention to the increase of the disease between 

 the years 1892 and 1902. He points out that the density 

 of cattle population does not explain why the disease is 

 more common in certain parts of England than in others ; 

 for example, the West Biding of Yorkshire has twice the 

 number of outbreaks recorded as Devonshire, and has 

 fewer cattle, and this is by no means the only example. 



What Axe rightly insists on is that the increase of the 

 disease in the kingdom is not due to existing virus suddenly 

 waking into activity, but to importations of fresh infection 

 from without, and obviously due to our foreign trade. 

 Immense importations of wool and hair take place annually 

 into the kingdom from India, Africa, Persia, and Asia 

 Minor, and that this may be a source of anthrax infection 

 is undoubted, for many cases occur among human beings 

 engaged in its manufacture. 



How animals may get infected from the wool and hair is 

 by means of the waste water which has been used for 

 cleaning the material, or by the application to the land 

 of manure composed of the material which accumulates 

 in sorting the skins. 



It is quite certain that these may prove a source of soil 

 infection, and Axe supports this view by pointing out that 

 those countries in which the disease is exceptionally pre- 

 valent, are those in which the wool, pelt, and hair industries 

 largely prevail. 



* ' Anthrax in Eelation to Trade,' Proceedings of the National 

 Veterinary Association, 1903. 



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