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and we understand that at the present time in Germany the official view is that it is much safer to trust to the result of a cultural examination of the blood.

The evidence citerl in support of this view is far from convincing. The practical question is not whether anthrax bacilli can, by the method of culture, be detected in putrid or semi-putrid blood taken from the interior of the body when it is no longer possible to recognise their presence with the microscope, but whether in the ordinary circumstances in which the diagnosis has to be made microscopic examination of blood taken from a peripheral vein, such as that of an ear or a foot, is an untrustworthy method of diagnosis. Here, no doubt, a good deal turns on what is meant by ordinary circumstances. With rare exceptions in this country the suspected carcase is found within twenty-four hours after death, and it may be asserted with much confidence that within that period, at all seasons of the year, micro­scopic examination of blood from an ear, or a foot, or the tip of the tail (in an ox), is quite reliable. Except during the summer months, blood taken from such a peripheral vessel in the circumstances will, if the case has been one of anthrax, show the characteristic bacilli. Moreover, when methylene-blue is the stain employed the violent reaction is generally obtainable with sufficient distinctness until the third day after death. Finally, this latter reaction is sometimes still recog nisable afte r the anthrax bacilli have entirely disappeared, as proved both by cultural and inoculation experiments.

Annual Reports of Proceedings under the Diseases of Animals Acts, etc. , for the year 1903.

IN addition to the usual statistical tables, the account of the proceedings under the Contagious Diseases of Animals Acts for the past year comprises reports by the Chief Veterinary Officer and the Assistant Secretary to the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. Agriculturists have reason to congratulate themselves that neither of these has had to record anything very startling in connection with the incidence of the contagious diseases of aQimals during the year 19°3.

In the introductory part of his report the Chief Veterinary Officer takes the opportunity to impress upon stock-owners the ad vantages which they now enjoy in consequence of the success which has attended the efforts of the Board to stamp out some of the animal plagues which are still the cause of great loss in most foreign countries. To the former triumphs of the Board in this direction the past year has added still another success, for the report has to chronicle the pleasing fact that for the first time in the history of the

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disease no case of rabies was detected in Great Britain during the twelve months under review.

Unfortunately, the report has to take notice of other facts which are of a less satisfactory character. The outbreaks of glanders reported during the past year were 25 per cent. in excess of those for 1902, and there was also a disquieting increase in the prevalence of anthrax. In connection with the former disease, the Chief Veterinary Officer raises, but does not attempt to answer, the question whether the increase in the number of cases reported is due to an actual spread of the disease, or to a more frequent resort to mallein, resulting in the detection of cases that would formerly have been overlooked. In view of the fact that during the year the average number of cases in each outbreak was less than two, the latter explanation can hardly be the correct one, for it can scarcely be doubted that if mallein were systematically employed in infected stables, and the animals reacting to the test were dealt with as glandered, the ratio between the number of outbreaks and the number of horses found to be diseased would be very different from what it has been hitherto.

The report by the Assistant Secretary covers much the same ground as that by the Chief Veterinary Officer. Contrary to what might have been expected, it deals not only with what might be called matters of administration, but also wilh questions which a layman can hardly pretend to discuss with authority. For example, what is said under the head of anthrax is mainly a defence of cremation, as a method of disposing of anthrax carcases superior to burial, and we find the Assistant Secretary laying down the law to the effect that" it is undoubtedly the case that destruction by fire or by exposure to a high temperature is the most effectual manner of disposing of such car­cases, providing that this can be done without cutting the carcase." Surely this is a matter requiring for its decision some knowledge of the bacteriology of anthrax, and with all humility it may be suggested that prompt burial is an effectual method of disposing of anthrax carcases, and, where practicable, not inferior to cremation. In discussing the relative merits of the two methods, the Assistant Secretary reminds Local AUlhorities that, in order to comply with the provisions of the Anthrax Order, about two tons of lime ought to be used in burying an anthrax carcase, whereas inquiries made by the inspectors of the Board elicited the fact that in many cases considerably less than half a ton is used. This, it may be observed, is a fact that has not the least relevance to the question whether cremation is superior to burial, simply because there are no sufficient grounds for believing that a carcase buried with lime, whether the amount be two tons or half a ton, is any safer than one buried without any lime at all. The facts connected with the incidence of anthrax in this country are wholly inconsistent with the view that the increased prevalence of the disease during recent years is in any important degree due to the circumstance that carcases have generally been disposed of by bun aI, and disappointment is in store for those Local Authorities who, at the instigation of the Board of Agriculture, have erected crematoria for the destruction of anthrax carcases, in the expectation that a reduction in the prevalence of the disease in their districts will thereby be effected.

Report of Proceedings under the Diseases of Animals Acts for the year 1903. Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland.

THE case of Ireland is probably the most striking illustration to be found anywbere of the advantage of an insular position to a country in which the breedmg and rearing of animals forms an important part of the agricultural industry. With regard to the incidence of contagious diseases among its