584 VETEEINARY HYGIENE 



There is another cause connected with trade which may 

 be operating in increasing the number of anthrax outbreaks 

 in Great Britain, and that is the importation of feeding 

 stuffs. McFadyean was the first to show the influence of 

 this source of infection. It may come in with hnseed, 

 cotton seed, hay, and oats. All these may be infected in 

 the country of their production, or they may be infected 

 during transit, as for example, by being carried on vessels 

 which have previously been engaged conveying infected 

 hides. The use of artificial and other feeding stuffs from 

 abroad is greatly increasing, hay from Canada, lucerne hay 

 from South America, cotton seed from the United States, 

 Egypt, and India, linseed from Eussia, and oats from 

 everywhere. 



In this way the chances of introducing infection are 

 greatly increased, and without minimising the influence of 

 waste water from hair, wool, and leather factories as a source 

 of infection, we must not lose sight of food infection ; the 

 former may not produce disease, as animals may not have 

 access to the infected waste on land, but the food is pur- 

 chased to be eaten, and the risk of infection becomes very 

 much greater. 



In notorious anthrax countries like India there is no neces- 

 sity to attempt to explain outbreaks of the disease, for the 

 soil conditions are such as to favour the growth and develop- 

 ment of the organism, viz., a sufficiently high temperature 

 and moisture, and it is conceivable that the spores of the 

 bacillus of years gone by may still be in an active condition 

 in the ground, and only need introduction into the animal 

 body to demonstrate their presence. In fact, it is known 

 that in the soil spores may live for years, which explains 

 why certain tracts of country are anthrax infected. 



Koch, as opposed to Pasteur, regards the anthrax organism 

 as a saprophyte, and only accidentally parasitic. In its 

 saprophytic condition it lives and multiplies in stagnant 

 water, or on the surface of the ground, and on plants, form- 

 ing spores during hot weather, which, through the agency 

 of floods, are carried over the land. 



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