The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1897-08-18

As soon as the rumor of this outbr eai
reached the Depa rtment OF Agriculture. DIR.
n. z. Trumbower, assistant chief Of the
Bureau Of Animal Industry, sent 'iis-
patch 10 the state veterinary of Pennsyiva-
MIA, at Harrisburg, asking for Information
about the report.
The disease is said to have been intro
,Iuced at Dubois, Pa, through imported
hides.
There is nc cure for this malady. Ca-tic
infected must be killed and men attacked
must he isolated.
Rush Shipper IIuidekoper, q physi ia
and veterinary, who is the editor or the
Journal OF ofComparative Medicine and Vetsr
mary Archives, published at Phila de iphia 4,
| is perha ps the most learned man in Amcrtoa
Oh the subject OF anthrax.
This disease, he says, is a contagious
and usually fatal one, characterized by
chills, great depression and stupor and
profound alteration of the blood, dle To
the destruction of the red blood corpuscles.
IL is caused by the admission into the AMI
n al body OF bacteria, or low order otiiving
organisms, OF their spores known rs the
..RacfIlus Of Davaine''' or Bacillus an
thTacis
1t affects all animals exposed to its
oonta cion. The herbivora are especially
susceptible ia the following order: the
sheep. the OK and the horse The guinea
pig, the hog, the rabbit, mice and other
animals die quickly from it's effects.
Man, the dog and other omnivora and
| carnivora may be attacked by 1t In
constitutional form as fatal as in the
herbiyora, but fortunately in some cases
develop from il only local trouble fol
lowed by recovery. Fowls may he in
oculaf ed and develop the disease il they
are partially Immersed in cold water to
reduce their natural body temperature
from 1O4 to about 100 degrees Frogs
may he inoculated successfully II kept
in warm water, which will raise their
body temperature 10 one approXiInating
that OF the warm blooded animal.
Anthrax has been the scourge of animals
OF the civilized world since the first written
history which has come down about their
diseases 1t existed in A sia Minor at the
time or tue Siege of Troy; il was plague
OF the cattle of Egypt during the time of
Moses II was servere pest among the
agricultural animals in the early Greek
and Roman days, and accounts OF its
symptoms have comedo wn from thewritings
OF Columclla, Narro, Virgil, and others
By the writers of the Iiddle \ ges IL was
frequently confounded with the rinderpest.
but is described with sufficient precision to
identify the outbreaks of il i'm epizootc
form In A. u. 1896 and A. n.1 900 in France;
in I55e, at Lucca, Italy; in GIT, at Naples;
where numbers of human beings died from
eating tie flesh OF animals which were af-
fected with the disease.
In 1893 the Senate OF Venice interdicted
the sale uf meat, butter or cheese, coming
from animals affected with anthrax. In
17Oa-ITI2 extensive outbreak OF anthrax
occurredin Germany, Hungary and Poland.
In the first halr OF the present century it
had become an extensively spread disease
in Pussia, Holland and England, and for
the last century it has been gradually
spreading in the Americas; mon. so in
South America.
In 1864 in the five governments of
Petersburg. Novcorod. 0lonetz, Twer and
Jaroslaw, in Russia, over 10000 horses
and nearly 1000 persons perished from
this disease.
The causes OF anthrax Were for long
time attributed entirely TO climatic inf1u-
ences, soil and atmospheric temperature
and they are still recognized as most i'm
portant predisposing factors in the devel
opment of the disease, for Ii is usually
found, especially when outbreaks over any
number OF animals occur, in low m arshy
countries during the warm seasons. 1t
is more frequent in districts where marshy
lands dry out during the heat of summer.
nnf ax-;t afafI no
favorable for nourishing aud preserving
the virus.
The direc, cause of anthrax is always
ooniagion or infection of previously sonnd
animal, either directly from a diseased
animal or through various media which
contain excretions or the debris from the
cody OF a previously infected animal
The specific virus OF anthrax was discovered
by Davaine in 1851. He recognized ia
the blood of animals suffering from this
disease microscopic bodies in the form of
little rods, with bright spots at their ex-
tremities 1t was not, however, till
quarter of century later that Pasteur
defined the exact nature OF the bacillus, the
mode of its propagation and It's exact re
lation to anthrax as the sole cause of the
disease.
Infection Of an animal TAX es place through
inoculation, or consists of the ba cilIus
or IFS spores, with an abraded surface or
mucous membrane On a sound animal. In
an infected district, horses may eat the
rich pasturage of spring and early sum
,ner withimpunity, but when grass becomes
low they crop 1T close TO the ground, pull
up the Dots around which the virus may
be lodged. The virus may be introduced
with food, and enter the blood-vessel sys-
tenn from the stomach and intestines. If
contained in the dust, dried hay or on the
parched pasture of late summer, the virus
may be inhaled and be absorbed from lining
OF the lungs. If containedin harnessleather
1t needs but an abrasion of the skin as the
harness rubs II to transfer the spore into
the c;rcIlatoIy system of the animal
1t is recorded that q groom suffered an
attack OF anthrax from the use Of A new
horse brush. The strap which passes over
the hack of the hand inoculated an abra sion
on the knuckle of the first finger, and i'm
twelve hours pustule had formed and the
arm had become affected
The symptoms of anthrax develop with
extreme rapidity. They are frequently SO
sudden that It appears but a few minutes
before the animals have passed from q
condition OF perfect health to danger
ously diseased condition. The horse is de-
jected aud falls into a state of profound
stupoT. attended by great muscular weak.
ness The feeble, fndoIent animal, IL forced
to move, drags its legs. There are severe
chills, agitation of the muscles, symptoms
of vertigo, and at times colicky pains. The
body temperature goes rapidly to 1O4 or
los. The breathing Is increased to thirty