424 
M. COLIN. 
lent elements before sending them to the following, and that they 
only give up what they may have received or elaborated in excess. 
The steps in the arrest which separate the infection of a ganglion 
from that of another are of variable duration. In being far apart, 
they seem to constitute one of the principal obstacles to the 
development of general accidents. 
Ganglions do not act alike in all cases of carbunculous tumors. 
If the pustule is to remain a local accident, they do not take any 
part in the morbid process; they limitate or circumscribe it. If 
that pustule is to bring on a general infection, they are success¬ 
ively transformed into bubons, which act the part of internal 
malignant pustules added to the first; the centers of infection 
are consequently multiplied in proportion to the number of those 
organs. There is only one, if the pustule remains isolated; there 
are three, four, five and more, if anthrax has spread through the 
whole lymphatic system. Thus we can understand the seriousness 
of the malignant pustules of the region of the head, of the neck 
and chest, where ganglions are so numerous. 
In the point of view of the pathogeny, the entire evolution 
of a carbunculous disease proceeding from a malignant pustule 
comprehends five periods. The first corresponds to the develop¬ 
ment of the pustule, the second as a step of arrest, the third 
corresponds to the successive development of bubons and malig 
nant ganglionar pustules, the fourth is another step of arrest, and 
the fifth is that of a general infection of the blood and of all the 
organs. 
These five steps that anatomical examination allows to dis¬ 
tinguish in the evolution of anthrax, are also distinguishable by 
experimentation for virulency, and indicate and measure them. 
At first, this property belongs to the tumor only, even limited to 
the center of the tumor; later it extends to the ganglions, and 
finally to the mass of the blood. The intervals which separate 
them may be very long. Yirulency is plainly realized in the 
pustule before showing in the ganglion; it is in this long before 
it is noticeable in the blood or other parts of the blood. The 
intervals must not be overlooked, for those are the moments when 
the disease may limit itself, when virulency may die out. 
