:527 
ANNUAL  REPORT  FOR  1909  OF 
THE 
PRINCIPAL 
OF 
THE  ROYAL 
VETERINARY  COLLEGE. 
Anthkax. 
The 
following  Table 
shows  the  number  of  outbreaks 
this 
disease,  and  the 
total  number  of 
animals  attacked 
each 
of  the  last  six  years  : — 
Tear 
Outbreaks 
Animals  attacked 
1904 
1,049 
1,589 
1905 
970 
1,317 
1906 
940 
1,326 
1907 
1,089 
1,466 
1908 
1,108 
1,426 
1909 
1,316 
1,700 
It  will  be  observed  that  a larger  number  of  outbreaks 
has  been  reported  during  the  past  year  than  in  any  other 
included  in  the  Table,  and  in  reality  they  exceed  those  of 
any  previous  year  since  1887,  when  the  Anthax  Order  came 
into  force.  Accepting  the  returns  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture 
and  Fisheries  as  approximately  correct,  it  would  appear  that 
the  disease  is  now  fully  twice  as  prevalent  as  it  was  ten 
years  ago,  and  that  it  is  still  on  the  increase.  The  probable 
cause  of  this  increase  has  been  touched  upon  in  several 
previous  Annual  Reports,  in  which  it  was  pointed  out  that  it 
was  scarcely  possible  to  account  for  the  majority  of  the  out- 
breaks except  on  the  assumption  that  they  had  been  caused 
by  anthrax  spores  present  in  cake,  corn,  and  other  feeding- 
stuffs,  and  manures,  imported  from  foreign  countries  in  which 
the  disease  is  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year  very  prevalent. 
It  cannot  be  doubted  that  upon  the  whole  the  measures  taken 
by  local  authorities  to  limit  the  spread  of  the  disease  when 
an  outbreak  occurs  are  much  more  efficient  than  they  were 
for  some  time  after  the  introduction  of  the  Anthrax  Order, 
and  the  small  proportion  of  cases  in  which  several  successive 
outbreaks  occur  during  the  same  year  indicates  that  the  in- 
creasing prevalence  of  the  disease  is  not  due  to  permanent 
soil  contamination  or  to  neglect  in  dealing  with  the  carcasses 
of  dead  animals. 
The  fact  appears  to  be  that  the  provisions  of  the  Anthrax 
Order  do  not  strike  at  all  at  the  main  cause  of  anthrax  in 
