334 
APPENDICES. 
•original organism. It must be remembered that the spore is infinitely 
more resistant than is the parent organism so that ordinary methods 
of disinfection are not sufficient to destroy its vitality. 
In the case of the anthrax organism for instance, so highly 
resistant is the spore that it may remain quiescent for years in 
unfavourable circumstances, and it only develops into a bacillus on 
gaining entrance to the animal body either through a wound, by 
being ingested along with the food or water, or by being inhaled 
with particles of dust, etc. Even boiling water does not immediately 
destroy the anthrax spore. The anthrax bacillus only forms a spore 
outside the animal body and then only in the presence of oxygen and 
provided the temperature is between 70° F. and 107° F. So long as 
the carcase remains intact no spore formation can take place because 
the bacilli being deprived of oxygen soon die. Hence the great impor- 
tance of not cutting into the carcase of an animal suspected to have 
died of anthrax, and of carefully disinfecting the bloody discharges 
which generally exude in such a case from the natural orifices. After 
disinfection these orifices should be plugged with some material such as 
tow or rags previously soaked in carbolic acid or a similar disinfectant. 
Note II — Anti-anthrax serum, — Various investigators at 
different times have manufactured sera with protective and curative 
properties against anthrax. Perhaps the best known of these is 
Slave's serum.'' It is made by injecting increasingly large doses of 
virulent anthrax material under the skins of animals previously immun- 
ised against the disease. The serum in the blood of animals so treated, 
in time acquires properties exceedingly inimicable to the anthrax 
bacillus. Adequate doses of such a serum injected under the skin of an 
animal should serve to protect against anthrax for about a fortnight. 
If this serum and a small dose of virulent material be injected 
simultaneously an immunity lasting for perhaps a year may be 
acquired, but there is some risk of the animal acquiring virulent 
anthrax during the process and dying. The method in cattle has been 
used on a large scale in South America, I believe with great success. 
An anti-anthrax serum has been made at the Imperial Bacterio- 
logical Laboratory, Muktesar, India. It has been used in controlling 
outbreaks in cattle and horses but the simultaneous method has never 
yet been tried in India. 
Another well-known serum, which has been largely used in 
combatting anthrax is that known as Sobernheim's "; it differs in no 
essentials from the above sera. 
Anti-anthrax serum in large doses has been proved useful as a 
curative in human practice. In domestic animals the period between 
the onset of symptoms and the animal's death is usually too short to 
admit of this being attempted. 
