202 Annual Report for 1907 of Royal Veterinary College. 
is communicable to human beings, and that annually a number 
of persons become affected while dealing with the carcasses of 
animals that have died from anthrax. The newspaper reports 
— often more or less sensational — which record such occurrences 
are apt to convey the idea that the disease is one of a highly 
contagious character, but that such is not the case is abundantly 
proved by the published statistics, which show that in the 
majority of cases what is called an “ outbreak ” comes to an 
end with the death of the first animal. Anthrax is no doubt 
a contagious disease, but it is infinitely less contagious than, say, 
cattle plague or foot-and-mouth disease, and precautions which 
would entirely fail to prevent these latter diseases from spread- 
ing are quite effectual when applied against anthrax. This 
difference is due to the fact that, as regards the occurrence of 
anthrax among the animals of the farm, the chief danger is 
not in connection with the live diseased animal, but with the 
carcass. Animals which are affected with anthrax may be 
the means of spreading the disease while they are still alive, for 
their urine and fseces may contain the germs of the disease, but 
experience shows that the danger arising in this way is not 
great, because the number of “ bacilli ” which leave the body 
during life is usually not enormous. On the other hand, the 
fresh dead carcass is highly charged with danger, becaiase, at 
least in cattle and sheep, every drop of blood contains myriads 
of the “ bacilli,” and the skinning or cutting of an animal dead 
of anthrax thus creates a tremendous risk of future trouble. 
It is to guard against this danger that the Anthrax Order 
prescribes rigid precautions in dealing with anthrax carcasses, 
and it is a pregnant fact that the more serious outbreaks, in 
which a considerable number of animals are attacked, are, on 
inquiry, nearly always traceable to neglect in dealing with the 
carcass of the first fatal case. 
In previous Reports attention has been drawn to the fact 
that the majority of the outbreaks of anthrax in this country 
are not recurrent, but apparently fresh outbreaks on farms 
previously supposed to be free from the disease, and for this 
and other reasons the conclusion has been drawn that a large 
proportion of the outbreaks are caused by anthrax spores in 
such imported materials as feeding stuffs and manures. The 
Report of the chief Veterinary Officer to the Board of Agricul- 
ture and Fisheries for 1906 contains some figures which are 
very suggestive in this connection. It is there shown that in 
five counties, viz., Aberdeen, Somerset, Salop, Wilts, and 
Cheshire, the total number of outbreaks in the two years, 
1905 and 1906, was 474, and that in no fewer than 395 of 
these the outbreak appeared to be a fresh infection, that is 
to say, there was no history of a previous case on the same 
