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FIG. 2. Hog·cholera bacilli taken from an exactly parallel culture to the preceding, and stained and photographed under identical conditions.

FIG. 3. Micrometer scale photographed under the same conditions as FIGS. I and 2. Each division is the TiJo of a millimetre.

FIG. 4. Colonies of the swine-fever bacillus in a gelatine-agar plate culture (x about 10).

FIG. 5. Colonies of the hog-cholera bacillus in a gelatine-agar plate culture (x about 10).

FIG. 6. Portion of large intestine of Pig 2, Lot B, Experiment III.. showing (a, a) a large cicatrised ulcer close under the ileo-ciecal projection and a somewhat smaller one above it (natural size).

FIG. 7. From the colon of Pig 2, Lot A, Experiment III., showing ulcers with granulating bases (natural size).

FIG. 8. From the colon of the same pig as FIG. 6, showing (a, a,) two healed ulcers (natural size).

ED ITO R I A L ART I C L E S. --0--

ANTHRAX AMONG LONDON HORSES.

THE case of Denny v. Covington, which was recently tried before the Lord Chief Justice of England and a special jury, is one of considerable interest to veterinary surgeons, and especially to those members of the profession whose practice lies among city horses. The main facts of the case were as follows: The action was brought by Messrs C. & J. Denny, corn-dealers and grain importers, to recover the balance of an account for oats supplied in November and December 1894 to the defendants, Messrs Covington, who carryon the business of lightermen and contractors. The defendants admitted the purchase and delivery of the oats in question, but pleaded that these were at the time of delivery contaminated with the germs of anthrax, and were responsible for the death of fourteen of their horses. The claim for the price of the oats was therefore opposed, and a counter-claim was made for £370 to cover th() loss occasioned by their usc. In bringing this counter-claim the defendants relied upon the Sale of Goods Act 1893, section 15, sub-sectiun 3, which enacts that in all contracts of sale per sample" there is an implied \varranty that the goods shall be free from any defect rendering them un­merchantable which would not be apparent on ordinary and reason­able examination of the sample." They accordingly undertook to prove :-(1) that the oats were sold by sample; (2) that said oats con­tained the germs of anthrax and were therefore unmerchantable; (3) that the defect which rendered them unmerchantable was not discover­able by an ordinary and reasonabte inspection of the sample; and (4) that the oats in question caused the death by anthrax of fourteen of their horses.

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The evidence led to prove the first of these points need not be quoted here. In support of the second contention, viz., that the germs of anthrax were present in the oats supplied to the defendants, the principal witness was Professor M'Fadyean, who had conducted the following experiments.

A quantity of the oats, which had been brought to him in a sealed box by Mr W. W. Dollar, was mixed in a sterilised jar with an equal volume of sterile water; the oats and water were stirred up with a sterile glass rod, and the water was then filtered through sterile muslin. Of the muddy-looking water thus obtained, r cc., or r 8 drops, were injected under the skin of each of four guinea-pigs, while other four guinea-pigs received double that quantity of the same liquid, namely z cc., or 36 drops; at the same time 5 cc. of the same liquid were injected under the skin of a yearling sheep, and the same quantity, 5 cc., was injected under the skin of a calf. The result of this experiment was negative, for none of the animals died or developed any symptoms of anthrax. On the r6th October last, he repeated the above experiment, mixing the oats with water exactly as before, and filtering the liquid through sterilised muslin. In this instance z cubic centimetres were injected into each of eight guinea-pigs, while 6 cc. of the same liquid were injected under the skin of the left thigh of a sheep, and z cc. under the skin of the right thigh of the same sheep. The eight guinea-pigs formed part of a lot of twelve recently purchased for the purpose of the experiment; nothing was done to the remaining four, which were kept in a separate cage. The result of the experiment was as follows: On the 19th October one of the inoculated guinea-pigs was found dead; the post-JIlortem examination showed extensive disease at the spot where the fluid had been injected under the skin, but microscopic examination did not show any anthrax bacilli either here or in the blood.

On the z I st October two of the inoculated guinea-pigs were found dead; post-mortem examination showed extensive cedema under the skin, starting from the point where the water had been injected and spreading round the chest. Examination of the tissues here, and of blood taken from the heart, showed abundant anthrax bacilli. From each of the guinea-pigs a little of the blood from the heart was sown out on agar tubes, and on the following day each tube showed an abundant pure growth of anthrax bacilli.

On the morning of the zznd October the inoculated sheep was found dead in its pen (the night watchman subsequently reported that this sheep was dead at 10 o'clock on the previous evening). Post-mortem examination of the sheep made on the morning of the zznd showed that the thighs were much swollen around the point where the water had been injected, and microscopic examination of a lilitle of the fluid taken from the swollen thigh showed abundant

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anthrax bacilli. A little of this fluid sown out in the manner above described yielded by the following day an abundant pure culture of anthrax bacilli.

The witness held that these experiments proved beyond the possi­bility of doubt that the sample of oats, as delivered to him by the Messrs Dollar, did contain the germs of anthrax.

For professional readers it is unnecessary ·to deal with the evidence given on the side of the defendants to prove that the presence of anthrax spores in a sample of oats would not be discoverable by an ordinary or reasonable examination. We come, therefore, to the evidence proving the fourth of the defendants' contentions, viz., that the oats supplied by the plaintiffs caused the death of fourteen of the defendants' horses. Upon this head very important evidence was given by the defendants' veterinary surgeon, Mr W. W. Dollar. The first of the alleged deaths from anthrax occurred on the 5th of December, on which day two of the defendants' horses died after a brief illness. Mr Dollar made a post-mortem examination of one of these animals, and found the lesions of gastro-enteritis, but did not suspect anthrax. On the 7th December a third horse was taken ill, and it died on the following day. The post-mortem of this animal revealed lesions which led him to believe that it had died from anthrax, and a microscopic examination of blood taken from the ear confirmed this diagnosis. Mr Dollar then instituted inquiries with the object of discovering the source of infection, and by a process of exclusion he was led to lay the blame on the oats. The water supply could not be incriminated, since water from the same source was being used in other stables under his charge in which no cases of anthrax occurred. The hay could not be at fault, for no change had recently been made in that article of diet. It was ascertained, however, that since the 24th of November a new sample of oats, viz., that purchased from the plaintiffs, had been used to feed the defendants' horses. The witness therefore advised that the use of these oats should be discon­tinued,and that the stables in which the deaths had taken pl ace should be thoroughly disinfected. Notwithstanding these precautions, four more horses died from an thrax between the 9th and the 13th December. Between the 13th and the 25th December no fresh cases occurred, but on the latter date another horse died from anthrax, and this was followed by three more deaths from the same cause between the 27th and the 31st December. Inquiries made when this second series of deaths began brought to light the fact that the defendants' foreman had obtained from the plaintiffs a second supply of oats on the 20th December, and had forthwith used them for feedin g the horses. As soon as this fact was discovered the use of these oats was stopped, and within a few days afterwards the disease disappeared from the defendants' stables.

On behalf of the plaintiffs it was contended :-(1) that the oats in

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question did not contain the germs of anthrax at the time of delivery, and (2) that the oats ""ere obviously very dirty, and ought not to have been given by the defendants to their horses without thorough cleaning, which would probably have averted the deaths from anthrax. In support of the first of these contentions it was proved by several witnesses that no complaints had been made regarding portions of the same sample of oats which had been consumed by horses belonging to other firms in London. With regard to the second point evidence was given by Professor Penberthy, who con­sidered that the oats contained a large quantity of dirt, that the presence of this dirt would predispose to infection, assuming that the germs of anthrax were present, that the germs were more likely to be present in the dirt than in the oats themselves, and that winnowing would have got rid of some of the germs, and possibly of them all. He also thought it open to doubt whether the oats as delivered by the plaintiffs contained the germs of anthrax, and thought it possible that the horses had been infected otherwise than by means of the oats.

Such was in outline the evidence on wliich the jury were asked to answer the following questions :-(1) Were the oats in question unmerchantable at the time of their delivery, in consequence of some latent defect which was not discoverable by a reasonable inspection of the sample? The jury without retiring answered the question in the affirmative. (2) Was it the duty of the defendants as prudent men to have cleaned or winnowed the oats before using them, and if they had done so in a reasonable way would it have prevented the outbreak? This was answered by the jury in the negative.

It is difficult to see how the jury could have come to a different conclusion with regard to either of these questions. No serious attempt was made by the plaintiffs to upset the evidence led to prove that the oats in question did contain the germs of anthrax; indeed, the expert witness called by the plaintiffs admitted that, having heard the evidence regarding the inoculation experiments previously described, he was satisfied that that particular sample was infected. In the absence of any imputation of intentional contamtnation of the oats by the defendants, and of any plausible explanation of how the oats could have become infected after delivery, this admission made it next to impossible for the jury to come to any other conclusion than that the oats were contaminated before delivery to the defendants. And since the plaintiffs did not dispute that the defendants' horses had died from anthrax, it may fairly be said that the proof that the oats were responsible for their death was, if not absolutely conclusive, at least as strong as one could reasonably demand in a case of the kind.

N or is it surprising that the jury would not accept the suggestion that the plaintiffs ought to have winnowed the oats. If it is main­tained that such an operation might have saved the lives of some of

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the horses, it may be contended with much greater probability that it would have sacrificed the lives of some of the men engaged in the work.

Probably this is not the last case of the kind that will be heard of. We have no means of ascertaining the extent to which anthrax occurred among London horses in times long past, but from cases that have been brought under our own observation during the last two years we know that it is not very rare now. And it is not at all improbable that the few cases that have recently been diagnosed after a microscopic examination form only a small proportion of the total number of deaths from this disease. It it perhaps not out of place to advise that city practitioners should in every fatal case of enteritis in the horse, with great enlargement and congestion of the intestinal lymphatic glands, be on their guard against overlooking anthrax.

VETERINARY SURGEONS AND MEAT INSPECTION.

AMONG the subjects discussed by the Public Health Section of the British Medical Association at its last annual meeting was that of meat inspection. The subject was introduced by Dr Legge, and we think that some of the statements which that gentleman made with reference to the training and qualifications of English veterinary surgeons ought not to be allowed to pass unchallenged.

Dr Legge, after describing the methods of meat inspection on the Continent of Europe, and admitting that the work of meat inspection in foreign countries is almost entirely in the hands of veterinary surgeons, went on to draw a picture unfavourable to the English veterinary surgeon as a meat inspector. In Dr Legge's view the veterinary surgeons who on the Continent discharge the duties of meat inspection are "highly-trained scientific experts," but British veterinary surgeons engaged in the same duties cannot be so described. The veterinary profession abroad, we are also given to understand, occupies a much higher position than it does at home, and the explanation of this is supposed to be found (I) in the circumstance that most of the Continental veterinary schools are state-aided institutions; (2) in the greater facilities there afforded for acquiring a scientific training; and (3) in the fact that the existence of public slaughter-houses has created a demand for specially trained professional men to regulate and control the sale of animal food. The outcome of these views appears to be­although Dr Legge did not express it quite so bluntly-that the inspection of meat in this country ought not to be entrusted to veterinary surgeons, but to members of the medical profession. He thought that a medical man could by spending some time at a veteri-