1453ANTHRAX AT BRADFORD.

we find, in harmony with current ideas, that there is adecided predominance of offences of acquisitiveness whichaccount for just half the criminality in this group. On the

other hand, it is rather surprising to note that as many as 16of the prisoners returned as suffering from this affectionhad been convicted of homicidal offences. It would be

interesting to know whether these homicidal cases were ofthe melancholic type of the disease or whether the un-

usual character of the impulses was due to an admixture

of alcoholism in their causation. Passing next to the con-sideration of epileptic insanity, which is also of much

medico-legal notoriety, we observe as the most strikingfeature in the prison statistics that the number of cases

counted under this heading is extremely small, being in fact

only a shade over 3 per cent. of the total. This is a point ofsome interest in connexion with the theories of the Italian

criminologists who regard crime as being in the main an

expression of the epileptic organisation, and who appeal as aproof of their hypothesis to the high proportion of epilepticsto be found amongst the habitués of prisons ; in this matter,as in some others, it must be supposed that the formula of

criminality is hardly the same in Italy as in other countries.

Coming now to the cases classed under one or another of thevarieties of mania and melancholia we reach the most

decisive and interesting result of the whole analysis : this is

the enormous predominance of the systematised insanities

(delusional mania and delusional melancholia) amongst theforms of mental disease that lead to criminal acts. In the

whole series 37 - 4 per cent. of the males and 50 per cent. of

the females come into this category, and it forms also the

largest individual group in every section of delinquency;amongst homicidal offenders 40’9 per cent. of the males and53- 3 per cent. of the females appear under this heading, and

amongst sexual offenders and prisoners convicted of

crimes of acquisitiveness it accounted for 35.7 per cent.and 36 per cent. respectively. The extreme frequencyof this type of insanity in criminal lunatics will

seem more remarkable when it is borne in mind

that in the non-criminal insane the proportion of

cases of systematised delirium is relatively small:

in the census of the Commissioners in Lunacy alreadyreferred per VCIlL.

additional interest to this result to find that a similar

predominance of paranoia, which we may take to be

synonymous with the delusional insanities in Dr. SMALLEY’S

classification, has been observed in insane criminals in othercountries. A distinguished Italian alienist, GIUSEPPE

ANGIOLELLA, drew attention to this fact some years ago,"and based on it a theory that the anomaly of character,which is the potentiality of paranoia, is akin to the essential

anomaly of the moral idiot and the instinctive criminal, andthat the lunatics who become criminals start with an organicpredisposition to crime. Dr. SMALLEY’S investigationswould go to support this view, especially as they show thatthe criminal tendencies in this form of alienation are not

restricted to homicide but are manifested also in other anti-

social acts, and further, that, so far from being the con-sequence of delirious thought, the criminal conduct of the

2 Della Criminalità nei Pazzi, II Manicomio, 1903.

paranoiac is quite likely to be the earliest evidence of his

morbid condition.

Anthrax at Bradford.To many, we might almost say to the majority of, practi-

tioners of medicine the lesions that follow the infection of

the human subject by the anthrax bacillus are familiar byreport only. This fact is the more remarkable in that

anthrax in animals is pretty evenly distributed throughoutthe rural districts of this country, but the comparativeimmunity enjoyed by farm hands and by knackers and thelike may be explained on the assumption that infectionin man is much more likely to follow inoculation with the

spores than with the less virulent vegetative form of the

specific organism, as bacilli only, and not spores, are presentin the blood and tissues of diseased animals. That this.

assumption is correct so far as regards laboratory experi-ments upon the lower animals was fully proved by PASTEUR

many years ago. Clinically three types of human anthrax aredescribed, according to the site of the primary infection-viz., cutaneous, pulmonary, and intestinal; happily, the lastnamed, due to the ingestion of infected flesh in the raw

or partially cooked state, is unknown in this country. The

former two occur almost solely in connexion with certain

industries, so that anthrax:in man may be regarded purely asan occupation disease, restricted, from the geographicalpoint of view, to those manufacturing centres occupied by

wharves, tanneries, and wool factories; while the clinical.

manifestations vary with the occupation of the victim.

Thus anthrax in stevedores and wharfingers who handle

cargoes of foreign hides and fleeces is of the cutaneous

variety and the local lesion is usually situated on the

hand or forearm, cheek, angle of the jaw, or neck, the lastthree sites usually denoting infection from bales carried.

on the shoulder; in the employees of the tan-yard the

malignant pustule or charbon may be situated on th

hand, arm, leg, or thigh, as here the men mani-.

pulate individual hides at, or near, the ground level;. ;.

while in the wool sorter and carder the infection is,

usually derived from fine hairs contaminated with the-

spores of the anthrax bacillus which are inhaled duringrespiration and affect primarily the upper air passages.or the lung tissue itself. The cutaneous variety of the-

disease results in a clinical picture absolutely typical andunmistakeable; indeed, we can only call to mind one

anomalous pustule out of the scores that have come under-observation and only one instance where the anthrax pustulewas so closely simulated by some other lesion (a vaccinia.

pustule on the cheek) as to lead to operation. Again,cutaneous anthrax is obvious, demands attention during the

early days of infection, and readily lends itself to surgical!treatment. The pulmonary form of anthrax, on the other

hand, gives rise to exceedingly obscure and ill-defined

symptoms, progresses more rapidly than the cutaneous:

variety, is beyond the reach of even twentieth-centurysurgery, and is usually recognised and diagnosed too late, ifat, all, for even the serum prepared by ScLAVO to be of any -real value; consequently the case mortality here reaches anappallingly high figure.

454 REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD.

These facts point to the vital importance of preventivemeasures against the infection of anthrax in connexion withthe wool industry and afford a ready explanation of

the keen interest that centres upon the work of the

Anthrax Investigation Board in Bradford. The reportspresented from time to time to the board by its able

bacteriologist, Dr. F. W. EURICH, indicate the scope of

the work and the valuable results already obtained. Last

month’s report in particular is of considerable importance,for in it, after mentioning that during the months from Mayto October nine firms had submitted samples of wool for

examination to a total of 116, and of these 10, includingsamples of Peking camel hair, Bagdad skin wool,mohair, and Cape mohair, contained anthrax germs, Dr.

EURICH shows that the blood-stained wool and hair are

the actual carriers of the germs of anthrax and not the dust

found in the wool as formerly believed ; but that althoughthe dust per se is harmless it may become dangerous byreason of its admixture with scales of dried blood derived

from the tainted hairs. Hence the amount of blood stainingof a fleece forms a rough measure of its danger to health.This observation is quite in accord with the experience ofother bacteriologists who are interested in the occurrence ofanthrax spores in hides rather than in wool, and with whomit is customary to select for examination the blood-stained

edges of the hide, which mark the original incision, and tosearch for the blood-stained patch of hair which marks the

place or places where the skinning knife was wiped. Dr.

EURICH further poirits out that blood may remain on the

wool fibres even after washing and may thus be a source of

danger to carders, combers, and the like, who manipulateit after it has passed the wash bowls ; and he emphasises the

necessity for detecting blood-stained material before the woolis washed or willowed so that it may be at once removed and

either effectually disinfected or, better still, destroyed.The action of various disinfectants, including formalde-

hyde and cyllin, upon the blood-stained and infective

material has also been carefully studied but the results

are somewhat disappointing, for owing to the protectionafforded to the anthrax spores by the matting together of theblood-stained fibres neither reagent could be relied upon toeffect the destruction of the spores, even after exposures

greatly in excess of those required to kill anthrax spores

simply suspended in water. Formaldehyde, however,possesses this valuable property-by its action upon the

albuminous constituents of the blood it fixes the blood

stains to the fibres and so prevents diffusion of the

virus into healthy fleeces, and this property, Dr. EURICH

thinks, might well be utilised in the treatment of

scheduled wools, Van mohair and Persian locks, which

the Home Office regulations prescribe must be steeped "inthe bale " before the latter is opened. Needless to say, the

board at its last meeting heartily endorsed Dr. EuRicH’s

recommendations, whilst its chairman stated that everyendeavour would be made to insure the continuance of its

work beyond the period of three years, now at an end, forwhich the board was originally appointed. Although, as wehave shown, much has already been achieved, much more

yet remains to be done before adequate methods of pro-

phylaxis can be devised, and we can only hope that the

exertions of the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Mr. J. E. FAWCETT,who is the chairman of the Anthrax Investigation Board,may be crowned with success.

Report of the Medical Officer of

the Local Government Board.THERE is an apparently inexorable rule in the Civil

Service that when the clock of a man’s life strikes 65 he

must lay down the pen which he has wielded for his countryfor perhaps 40 years or more and close his official career;

and it was in accordance with this edict that Sir WILLIAM

H. POWER, KC.B., F.R.S., to the infinite regret of all whoknew his work, signed his last report and retired at the

beginning of the present year. In what is nominally hisfirst annual report Dr. ARTHUR NEWSHOLME, the presentmedical officer, pays a graceful tribute to his very dis-

tinguished predecessor, a tribute which will be appreciatedby that somewhat limited circle who had the privilege of SirWILLIAM POWER’S acquaintance as well as by that very largenumber of the more scientific epidemiologists who learnt to

regard the late medical officer of the Board as a man of

altogether exceptional calibre. In his dislike for all ostenta-

tion and advertisement Sir WILLIAM POWER evinced the

highest qualities of the civil servant and raised the

department over which he presided to one in which

the country had complete trust. Fortunately, as Dr.

NEWSHOLME adds in his report, the State still retains

the services of Sir WILLIAM POWER as chairman of

the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis and as a memberof the Royal Commission on Sewage Disposal.The auxiliary scientific investigations which are conducted

annually for the Board by workers presumably not otherwise

officially connected with it deal as usual with subjects ofconsiderable interest only some of which can be brieflytouched upon here. Dr. E. E. KLEIN has continued

his valuable researches into the prophylaxis of plague.It will be remembered that last year his experimentalwork showed that when the dried material from the

necrotic organs of the guinea-pig in which subacute

plague had been induced was injected into white rats

such rats were rendered immune against subsequent infec-tion with a fatal dose of bacillus pestis. It has been

shown, too, that a clear filtrate of a watery extract of

these necrotic organs, even when heated to 65° C. for ten

minutes to destroy all living bacilli or cocci, was similarlyefficacious in a prophylactic sense, the filtrate possessingthe additional advantage that it may be preserved at

least for many months in sealed tubes and used in this

and foreign countries. Dr. KLEIN has recently been study-ing the use of these organic extracts in a curative as well asin a prophylactic sense and he has discovered that althoughthe actual blood of an animal which has recovered from an

attack of plague does not contain any appreciable amountof antibodies capable of neutralising the action of specificmicrobes the watery extracts of the organs chiefly affectedin the disease and which belonged to rabbits which had

recoverd from an attack of the malady possess considerable

therapeutic potency, a subject upon which, it is to be