The record-union., 1898-10-06
CATTLE DYING LIKE FLIES.
DEADLY ANTHRAX rs IN THE
PERKINS HERD.
A "Record-Union" Reporter and
Federal Inspector Go to
the Ranch.

Nothing has ever occurred I'M the way
Of disease among cattle in TINS part OIL
the State that has caused as mucn
anxiety in medical and scientific circles
Gs the recent discovery that catue are
dying of anthrax at the Perkins ranch
This fact is the more alarming De-
cause there have been many gallohs
Of milk sold from that nero IN TINS
city since the appearance OF the dls-
ease When Drs. Henderson ana Me
gowan visited the ranch Day or Two
ago they discovered that Sunday mllK
reached this city on Monday, ana was
sold by Marty, though some OF the
cattle had died before, and others nave
died since of the deadly anthrax
United States Inspector BIemer VINO
is the surgeon in charge OF Government
work in all the territory west OF the
Mississippi River, accompanied py d
Record Union reporter, visited the
Perkins ranch, which is ten miles from
the city, yesterday afternoon. AFTER
thorough inspection of the cattle Dr.
Blemer said: There is no question thal
these cattle have anthrax, ana that
there are no signs of the Texas feVer'
which is always accompanied by the
hong ticks that carry 1t. This IS the
first case of anthrax I have seen IN
long time, though they have had
great deal of it in Louisiana and in
other low, swampy countries.
It was pitiful to see the herd yester-
day Originally a band of sixty line
Holsteins, it has been reduced to forty
In ten days, while others of the num-
ber were dropping and dying as they
were viewed, with mol means OF staying
the dread disease.
Il cannot understand what it is"
said the owner of the ranch, for we
have taken the best of care of them,
and there were never any sick cattle
around them. They will appear to be
all right, and almost before you can
turn around they will turn over and
die without a kick. We have tried
everything, and it's no use; SO 1 have
told the boys that the best thing to do
is to let theE alone"
And the old gentleman's conclusion Is
about as far as the science of medicine
has gone since the time when the same
disease, then known as the sixth
plague of Egypt" destroyed the herds
in the time of Moses. 1t is the same
disease-so say the bo0ks-that Homer
sang Of in the "Iliad," while Plutarch
spoke of it 740 B. G. as the Persian
fire" among cattle.
Speaking of this same stubborn dis
ease last night DR.. A. NJ. Henderson
said: THE books give us no encour-
agement When a man or an animal
gets the intestinal form of anthrax it
is always fatal The rod-shaped bac-
terra multiply so fast that the victim
dies, not from the poison created by
the germ, as in diphtheria and other
diseases, but from the multiplication
of the germs If a man gets some
of the virus on his hand where there
is a slight scratch he gets form Of
the disease known as a malignant
pustule, and this can be cured If it is
taken in time, but when he gets the
splenetic form; that Is, the disease that
affects the internal organs, he is soon
overcome. The blood thickens, the
heart refuses to act, and death comes
instantly"
The greatest danger to people is from
drinking the milk or eating the flesh
of cattle that have anthrax. The med
icaI books speak of the deadly ravages
of the disease in the steppes Of Russia,
while 1900 people died IN San Do
mingo in ITO from eating meat Of
cattle that had anthrax. In 1917, co.
600 people died in Naples Of the same
disease, while in modern times there
have been many cases of the disease,
though in isolated instances. It is in
teresting, in connection with this NAL
ady, to note the fact that it is the
first disease in which medical men dis
covered the micro organism that caused
1t.
While the germs Of this awful dis
ease might reach the stomach and be
killed by the gastric fluids" said DR..
Henderson yesterday, the greatest
danger is from the spores, or eggs, so
10 speak They are hard to KILL re-
sisting much heat and cold. If one
should swallow them they would hatch,
breed and multiply until death ensued.
It is for this reason that dead cattle
should be incinerated rather than
buried"
In this connection it may be men
toned that the cattle that have already
died have been buried in the low lands
that are subject to overflow. Though
the danger Of pollution Of the river
water from this source IS not great,
the risks Of the awful disease are so
frightful that every precaution should
be taken.
The books speak OF. anthrax as the
most deadly Of all the infectious dis
eases that inflict cattle and animals.
In view Of the fact that there are no
recoveries it would of course be diff
cult for q disease to be worse" says
one Of the treatises on the subject
The samples Of blood examined un-
der the microscope by DR.. Henderson
showed millions Of the small rod
shaped bacteria. Enlarged 500 times,
the bacteria of the disease appear TO
be about the length Of the small letter
a. here quoted. When they once gain
a hold on the system, however, their
growth is so vast as to- be inexpressible
in figures. Within twenty-four hours
they increase their bulk to numbers
that run into the decillions and non
illons. overpowering the animal in
ficted so that the system is not able TO
combat the bacteria that sap its vital
forces.
The nearest approach to handling
the disease" said DR.. Blemer, has
been made by Pasteur and others of his
school. They have developed bacil
bacterial culture, greatly weakened, for
inoculation. in some such way as vac
cination among human beings. This
gives the cattle the disease in mild
form, so that they soon become inn
- fa~afx- r.