Anthrax (1850 on MOA; WOTY candidate)

[Fred Shapiro]

On Tue, 16 Oct 2001 Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:

>    "Anthrax," unfortunately, may be our Word of the Year.
>    Both OED and M-W have 1876.
>    There are some 1850 hits on both Making of America databases.  Check
> them out.  I haven't checked JSTOR.

I haven't checked the MoA hits, but here's an antedating from Core
Historical Literature of Agriculture:

1868 Charles A. Cameron _The Stock-Feeder's Manual_ 125  Menschell states
that 44 persons were afflicted with anthrax after eating the flesh of oxen
afflicted with carbuncular fever.


Fred Shapiro


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Public Services     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  and Lecturer in Legal Research            Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------