802 
Vaccination against Anthrax. 
in France was 3,296,815, and the number of cattle during the same 
period, 438,824. Among these vaccinated animals, the total loss 
from anthrax during the following twelve months is stated to have 
been 094 per cent, among the sheep, and 0 - 34 per cent, among the 
cattle ; and this in districts where the mortality from anthrax before 
the introduction of M. Pasteur’s method of vaccination was 10 per 
cent, per annum among sheep, and 5 per cent, per annum among 
cattle. 
But it is not only in France that the vaccinations have been 
carried out on a large scale. The Italian Government is so convinced 
of the value of the method that it supplies tl\e vaccin gratuitously 
to stockowners, on the condition that the vaccinations shall be 
carried out by qualified veterinary surgeons. Special laboratories 
for the preparation of the vaccin have also been founded in Austria, 
Spain, South America, Russia, and Australia. 
These facts have for years past been known in a general way to 
members of the veterinary profession in this country, and probably 
to many stockowners also ; but, nevertheless, Pasteur’s method of 
vaccination has not yet been brought into serious use in Great 
Britain as a means of combating anthrax. Probably this is due in 
part to distrust of the foreign statistics, and in part to the fact that 
with us anthrax is seldom the formidable plague that it is in many 
other countries. It is, fortunately, true that there are very few 
farms in this country in which there is a steady annual loss of any- 
thing like 5 or 10 per cent, from anthrax, among either the cattle or 
the sheep. Nevertheless, there are farms on which the occasional 
losses from anthrax are so serious as to render the farmer very 
anxious to take advantage of Pasteur’s discovery, if he were assured 
that the method is both safe and efficacious. 
During the first half of the present year I had the opportunity 
to follow the results of the Pasteurian method of vaccinating against 
anthrax on several farms, and the main purpose of this article is to 
record the experience thus obtained, for the information of those who 
are so unfortunate as to have anthrax among their stock. 1 
Farm I. — On this farm 3 horses and 7 cattle had died from 
anthrax during the twelve months preceding the vaccinations. On 
February 24 last 11 horses and 19 cattle were subjected to the first 
vaccination. In all the animals a slight swelling formed at the point 
where the vaccinal fluid was injected, and on March 1 one of the 
cattle died. Its spleen was forwarded to me, and the microscopic 
examination proved that it had died from anthrax. 
On March 9 the surviving animals (11 horses and 18 cattle) were 
injected with the second vaccin. No accidents followed the second 
vaccination, and no case of anthrax has since occurred among the 
vaccinated animals. 
1 In this connexion valuable assistance was rendered to me by Professor 
Edgar, F.R.C.V.S., Dartford ; Mr. C. Taylor, M.R.C.V.S., Nottingham ; Mr. P. 
Irving, M.R.C.V.S., Chipping Norton; and Mr. R. G. Verney, M.R.C.V.S., 
Stow-on-the-Wold, 
