DEPORT ON THE DISEASE KNOWN AS ANTHRAX. 
51 
the surface water cannot escape or is in the process of slow evap¬ 
oration. The injurious influence of these conditions is increased 
if the soil contains saline matters, such as sulphates, which favor 
the decomposition of organic substances. Roll, from this circum¬ 
stance, seeks to explain the more frequent appearance of anthrax 
in places where the ground is manured with the aid of mineral 
matters, as marl, lime and chalk.” He further adds, “ It is or¬ 
ganic substances undergoing decomposition under the influence 
of the humidity of the atmosphere which furnish the miasma 
supposed to be the cause of anthrax. A high temperature in 
favoring the evaporation of moisture from undrained land rich in 
vegetable matter or from marshes and swamps, and thus exposing 
a large quantity of organic material, still further accelerates its 
decomposition, and the products accumulate in the surface soil, 
the air which the animals breathe and the water they drink, as 
well as perhaps the food they eat. It would therefore appear, 
he infers, that anthrax is always due, when it arises spontaneously, 
to miasmatic infection. 
The advocates of miasmatic theory have received many sup¬ 
porters, but a considerable experience of this disease in this 
country for sixteen years, during which time I have been repeat¬ 
edly engaged in investigating the disease, has convinced me that 
these conditions, while they favor the spreading of the poison of 
anthrax, do not in any instance develop it. The conditions of the 
soil, the retention of water on its surface, the high temperature 
are all favorable to bringing to the surface and within reach of 
the animals pasturing in the field, a poison which may have many 
years before been buried, or partially buried, in the marshy land. 
We are all aware that the boggy part of the farm is the place 
of burial for the dead animals. 
Bollinger :—“ One circumstance which argues strongly against 
the miasmatic origin of anthrax is the fact that in this country 
we frequently meet with the disease during the winter months; 
as for instance in a recent outbreak of this disease near Sarnia, 
Ontario, which occurred late in December, when the animals 
were housed at night and running in the barn-yard during the 
day, at a time when the temperature was nearly at zero.” 
