328 SYNOPSIS OF CONTINENTAL VETERINARY JOURNALS. 
proved by the fact that a thin exposed layer of charbon 
blood does not assume the bright red colour. With regard 
to the theory of considerable reduction of the internal tem¬ 
perature ; the duration of the cold stage which succeeds 
the febrile “is two, four, or eight hours most frequently. 
Occasionally, especially in mild cases, it is prolonged to 
from twelve to fifteen hours.” The reduction in tempera¬ 
ture is not generally considerable, 3° to 5°, as the experiment 
of the author shows, consequently we cannot admit that a 
charbon patient dies “because his temperature falls, on an 
average, to 85°.” M. Colin considers the three precited 
causes can hardly produce deaths by their combined influence, 
for generally the number of Bacteria is too small to impede 
the circulation, to deprive the corpuscles of oxygen, or to 
arrest the production of animal heat. He considers the real 
cause of death is alteration of the blood, which renders it 
unfit for nutrition of anatomical elements. Examination of 
the liquid shows that it has become remarkably modified, 
and probably some day we shall be enabled to demonstrate 
“ whether the blood has only negative characters, or whether 
it is really poisoned either by toxic Bacteria or by a product 
which they generate, or which bears some other relations to 
them.” 
M. Tous working at the same matter as M. Pasteur , 
but from a different point of view, has obtained remarkably 
similar results. The Recueil, of 15th February, gives the 
following resume of his memoire :—After having traced the 
history of charbon from the latest researches, among which 
those of M. Pasteur are most remarkable, the author reminds 
us that, though Bacteria are capable of very little resistance, 
and perish at a heat of 50°, or by the action of putrefaction, 
or of antiseptic liquids, it is not the same with their germs. 
Their bright bodies, which can resist a very considerable heat, 
putrefaction, and moisture, and after many years can germi¬ 
nate in favorable media, as cultivating fluids. He believes 
this fact explains the persistence of charbon in two places or 
districts which it infests. Also he believes it is now possible 
to state (1) that charbon is never spontaneous in the literal 
sense of the word ; (2) that for its development it requires 
that there be inoculation with Bacteria or their spores. In 
one word the identity in features between charbon and the 
true parasitic diseases is complete. This is the opinion of 
M. Pasteur, and is the more readily adopted, for the experi¬ 
ments of that savant have been repeated and verified. This 
view certainly simplifies the study of the cause of charbon. 
1. Where and how are the germs of the Bacteria preserved ? 
