388 BACTERIOLOGY. 



details that there is no excuse for confounding the 

 two. 



Note. — From what has been said of this organism, 

 what are the most important differential points between 

 it and the bacillus anthraois f Inoculate several mice 

 with small portions of garden earth and street dust. 

 Isolate the organism that agrees most nearly with the 

 description here given for the bacillus of malignant 

 oedema. Compare its morphological, biological, and 

 pathogenic peculiarities with those of the bacillus 

 anthracis under similar circumstances. 



Still another pathogenic organism that may be 

 present in the soil is 



THE BACILLUS OF SYMPTOMATIC ANTHRAX; 



bacterie du charbon symptomatique (French) ; Bacillus 

 des Rauschbrand (German). It is the organism con- 

 cerned in the production of the disease of young cattle 

 and sheep commonly known as " black leg," " quarter 

 evil," and " quarter ill," a disease that prevails in cer- 

 tain localities during the warm months, and which is 

 characterized by a peculiar emphysematous swelling 

 of the muscular and subcutaneous cellular tissues over 

 the quarters. The muscles and cellular tissues at 

 the points affected are seen on section to be saturated 

 with bloody serum, and the muscles, particularly, are 

 of a dark, almost black color. In these areas, in the 

 bloody transudates of the serous cavities, in the bile, 

 and, after death, in the internal organs, the organism 

 to be described can always be detected. It is manifest 

 from this that the soil of localities over which infected 

 herds are grazing may readily become contam,inated 



