REPORT ON THE DISEASE KNOWN AS ANTHRAX. 
53 
experiments which was carried on at an experimental station 
established by the Bavarian Government at Langgries, Upper 
Bavaria, for the special duty of anthrax fever, (Veterinary Jour¬ 
nal, page 423,) the founding of the establishment being due to the 
initiative of Prof. Feser, of the Munich Veterinary School. Al¬ 
though the station was only commenced in September, 1876, the 
number of experiments that year amounted to no less than 200 ; 
these were conducted upon the larger and smaller domestic ani¬ 
mals. Seventy-two of these were conducted at Langgries or its 
vicinity, and the others were conducted at Munich, and were made 
upon 84 animals: 5 cows, 11 cattle, 35 sheep, 6 goats, 12 dogs, 4 
foals, 4 pigeons, 2 rabbits and 5 fishes. 
At the commencement of Feser’s stay at Langgries, he atten¬ 
tively examined the pastures on which the anthrax fever most 
frequently appeared, and he discovered so many of the lower or¬ 
ganisms thereon, and of such varied characters, that he found it 
impossible to describe them all; in fact he asserts that the life of 
a man would not be sufficient to make a complete study of these 
organisms, the majority of which were of microscopical dimen¬ 
sions. He noticed, however, that nearly all the vegetation on 
these pastures was charged with rust, smut or moulds of the most 
varied kind, and that every where, even on the most elevated lands, 
the ground was swarming with bacilli or bacteria. 
It follows from the observations and experiments of Feser, 
that the rust fungus, so frequent in certain countries, and during 
certain years, has no influence in the production of anthrax. The 
white mucilaginous mass resembling the honeydew of barley, and 
which is found every year in the marshes and marshy places of the 
pastures of Upper Bavaria, infected with the anthrax disease, 
was more particularly suspected by Feser and especially attracted 
his attention. The labors of Koch and Cohn amply confirm the 
suspicions entertained by Feser, for it has been ascertained that 
the mucilaginous matter is made up of bacillus subtilis, the form 
and development of which are identical with those of bacillus 
anthricis. These marsh bacilli, as well as those of the hay, are 
in all probability foreign to the causes of anthrax ; but because 
of their analogy to the bacteria of anthrax, a study of them may 
