th had been observed
to occur from time to time among healthy men engaged in woollen
manufactories, particularly in the work of sorting or combing wool. In
some instances death appeared to be due to the direct inoculation of
some poisonous material into the body, for a form of malignant pustule
was observed upon the skin; but, on the other hand, in not a few cases
without any external manifestation, symptoms of blood-poisoning, often
proving rapidly fatal, suggested the probability of other channels for
the introduction of the disease. In 1880 the occurrence of several such
cases among woolsorters at Bradford, reported by Dr J.H. Bell of that
town, led to an official inquiry in England by the Local Government
Board, and an elaborate investigation into the pathology of what was
then called "woolsorters' disease" was at the same time conducted at the
Brown Institution, London, by Professor W.S. Greenfield. Among the
results of this inquiry it was ascertained: (1) that the disease
appeared to be identical with that occurring among sheep and cattle; (2)
that in the blood and tissues of the body was found in abundance, as in
the disease in animals, the _Bacillus anthracis_, and (3) that the
skins, hair, wool, &c., of animals dying of anthrax retain this
infecting organism, which, under certain conditions, finds ready access
to the bodies of the workers.

Two well-marked forms of this disease in man are recognized, "external
anthrax" and "internal anthrax." In external anthrax the infecting agent
is accidentally inoculated into some portion of skin, the seat of a
slight abrasion, often the hand, arm or face. A minute swelling soon
appears at the part, and develops into a vesicle containing serum or
bloody matter, and varying in size, but seldom larger than a shilling.
This vesicle speedily bursts and leaves an ulcerated or sloughing
surface, round about which are numerous smaller vesicles which undergo
similar changes, and the whole affected part becomes hard and tender,
while the surrounding surface participates in the inflammatory action,
and the neighbouring lymphatic glands are also inflamed. This condition,
termed "malignant pustule," is frequently accompanied with severe
constitutional disturbance, in the form of fever, delirium,
perspirations, together with great prostration and a tendency to death
from septicaemia, although on the other hand recovery is not uncommon.
It was repeatedly found that the matter taken from