nimal on the
surface of the ground, they may remain around the roots of the grass in
a pasture or may be washed to the nearest low-lying ground or marsh. If
buried in the body of an animal dead from anthrax, they may be washed
deep into the ground, and in later years (in one proved case 17 years)
be brought to the surface and infect other animals. They are frequently
brought to the surface of the earth, having been swallowed by
earthworms, in the bodies of which they have been found.

This accounts for the outbreaks at the time of the first rains after a
dry season. During the latter the earthworm goes deep in the ground in
search of moisture; it finds the spore which has been washed there in
past years, swallows it, and afterwards brings it to the surface. The
virus is carried with the wool from infected sheep and remains in it
through the process of manufacture into cloth. The spores remain in the
hides of animals which have died of anthrax and retain their vitality
throughout months of soaking in the tanners' pits, the working of the
harness maker or the cobbler, and after the oiling of the completed
leather. The dried spores in the dust from any of these products may be
carried by the atmosphere.

Infection of an animal takes place through inoculation or contact of the
bacillus or its spores with an abraded surface or mucous membrane, on a
sound animal. In an infected district horses may eat with impunity the
rich pasturage of spring and early summer, but when grass gets low they
crop it close to the ground, pull up the roots around which the virus
may be lodged, and under these conditions the animals are more apt to
have abrasions of the lips or tongue by contact with dried stubble and
the dirt on the roots; this favors the introduction of the germs into
the system. The virus may be introduced with feed and enter the
blood-vessel system from the stomach and intestines. If in the dust,
dried hay, or on the parched pasture of late summer, the virus may be
inhaled and be absorbed from the lining of the lungs. If in harness
leather, it needs but an abrasion of the skin, as the harness rubs it,
to transfer the spore from the leather to the circulation of the animal.

The writer saw a case of anthrax occur in a groom from the use of a new
horse brush. The strap which passes over the back of the hand inoculated
an abrasion on the knuckle of the first finger, and in 12 hours a
"pustule" had formed and the arm had become