The Germ Tlicory of Disease Prof. F. C. Chandler. 



Uon, and the absolute necessity there is tluit in this 

 large country i!s mliabitaiits should devote a large por- 

 tion of their time to material interests that is to be con- 

 sidered. But ill tlio way in which science is undertaken, 

 the generous way in which men trive their time to it, 

 the ingenuity with whieli they endeavor to advance 

 ieionco, the fresh thoughts they take, and the plans 

 they employ (here is in all this something hopeful to 

 one who has learned to loolf with regret on the fondness 

 Shown on the other sido of the Atlantic for following 

 old paths and not trying fresh modes of research. Be- 

 i'ore I sit down let mo say that in one sense I 

 lind myself more comfortable In speaking to 

 you now than I was on the former occasion when I 

 spoke in this hall. Then I wa?, although not at the 

 beginning of my labors in America, I was at the begin- 

 ning of the most important part of those labors. You 

 doubtless know that iu the three months before that 

 time I t:ave but 29 lectures ; in the three mouths follow- 

 ing I gave 73; and, therefore, if I spoke at that time 

 highly of this country, it might be in the thoughts of 

 eouie that my expressions of respect for American 

 science mijrht be perhaps a little exaggerated in 

 presence of the approaching visits I was about to 

 make to the centers of science in this country, and that 

 the gratitude I then expressed for the kindness I 

 received rutjrht be that form of gratitude that 

 has been described as " a lively sense of favors to come." 

 [Laughter.] But there is one thing I feel It desirable to 

 mention at this time th:tt my admiration for American 

 science has not dated from my visit to this country, but 

 preceded it, and has been expressed more strongly than 

 expressed here, in books written before I ever thought 

 of visiting this country. With these thoughts, with this 

 remembrance of the kindness of this country, with these 

 hopes as to the future of science in this country, as to 

 the great advance science is to make under the labors 

 of men in this country, I return to England; and I 

 ean assure you that I shall convey to En- 

 rlaud with me a sense of the warmest 

 possible gratitude toward this country, and 

 a sense that I return to England with much that I have 

 learned. Lastly, ladies and gentlemen, to the persons 

 who are here present I have only to convey asain my 

 warmest, my t-incerest, my most unaffected thanks. 

 [Great applause, during which the speaker retired.] 



Dr. Prime then said : If there in no election, we will 

 consider the resolutions as unanimously adopted. The 

 audience then, after a hearty round of applause, slowly 

 dispersed. 



THE GERM THEORY OF DISEASE, 



A LECTURE EY PROF. C. F. CHANDLER. 



GERMS DEVELOPED IN FERMENTATION AND PUTRE- 

 FACTIONTHE THEORY THAT DISEASES ARE DUE 

 TO THE ABSORPTION OF GERMS INTO THE HUMAN 



SYSTEM. 



Prof. Chandler of Columbia College dplivered 

 a lecture, March 31, at the Stevens Institute of 

 Technology, Hoboken, on the subject of Fermentation 

 and the GTIII Theory of Disease. The first part of the lec- 

 ture was devoted to elucidating the changes which take 

 place in organic bodies during fermentation and putre- 

 factive processes. 



In 1680 Leuweuhoeek discovered with his new micro- 

 euopo the yeast globules. Iu 1787 Fabrionl advanced the 

 doctrine that the yeast was an acid which acted upon 

 the sugar as a base, saturating with carbonic acid and 



alcohol just as hydro-chloric acid acts upon chalk to 

 form carbonic acid and chloride of calcium. In 1803 

 Th^nard advanced the idea that the yeast eats a little 

 of the sugar; assimilates a portion and rejects the rest, 

 as alcohol and carbonic acid. Stahl suggested eatalcctio 

 action, and Liebig advanced that uleaand lon-r d-inm 1 

 it. He thought that the oxygon of Jthe air si am tin- de- 

 composition of the albumeniz^d matter, and that the 

 activity developed in this way is simply communicated 

 by contact with the susrar, which is liicrally broken 

 to pieces by the forces at work in the yeast. 

 In 1837 Do La Tour suggested the true explanation of 

 fermentation, namely, that it is an effect of the vegeta- 

 tive active action of the yeast. This theory received no 

 attention at the time. In 1813 Huli'.holz experimented 

 in solutions of sugar, in which the yeast was limited to 

 a portion of the solution by a membrane, and proved 

 that the action was limited to the yeast globules. Pas- 

 teur finally established the doctrine that the growth and 

 reproduction of yeast fungus only takes place iu for- 

 ineutiblo liquids, and that alcoholic fermentation only 

 occurs when the yeast plant is present in a state of 

 active development. 



This discussion necessarily involves to FOIUO extent 

 the question of spontaneous generation a doctrine 

 which was received without question by the early 

 Greeks, and which onlv disappeared within the last two 

 centuries, and has been recently revived, to the great 

 horror of many very good people, who think that any 

 idea that is contrary to their prejudices is necessarily 

 very wicked. Aristotle supposed tbat oysters and all 

 shell-fish, many insects, and even eels, Avere gener- 

 ated spontaneously in the mud ; that mairgots 

 grew spontaneously in putrefying flesh. The story of 

 the bees found in the carcase of a dead lion by S-unson 

 was supposed later to furnish a Scriptural foundation 

 for the doctrine of spontaneous generation. Redi was 

 the first to prove that maggots were simply the young 

 of flies. Ho advanced the doctrine Otnne vivuin 

 ex vivo : no life without antecedent life ; a 

 doctrine which we DOW call biogenesis. 

 Considerable discussion took place, and numerous ex- 

 periments were made to throw light on this subj ct. 

 These the lecturer described in some detail. For a while 

 the idea of spontaneous generation was pretty effectu- 

 ally disposed of, and it came to be generally be- 

 lieved that all life was derived from previous life, but 

 the introduction of the microscope and the discovery of 

 infusoria revived the question, and a new discussion 

 started, which has been goinsr ou for the last 20 years. 

 In the case of almost every living form it is found that 

 what appears to be the spontaneous development of an- 

 imals and vegetables is simply the development of 

 spores or germs that are constantly floating in the atmo- 

 sphere. These find their way into liquids and moist 

 substances which furnish the proper soil for their devel- 

 opment. 



The analogy between fermentation and the develop- 

 ment of infectious diseases was then pointed out, and 

 numerous instances in which disease has been directly 

 traced to parasites through anim ils or plants were cited. 

 Among these were the internal parasites, the Iwiiinm 

 solium, or the pork tape-worm, which app"ars in the 

 measles of pork in the form of quiescent cri/xticcrciis. and 

 which develops.when eaten as human food, into the tape- 

 worm; the similar tape-worm contained in the measles 

 of bjcf and veal; the do;r tape-worm, which pro luces in 

 its younger form the hytadid tuuior.s in mm. T.ic last la 

 the worst of all tape-worms; 500 persons are supposed 

 to die annually from it in Great Britain. Another fnght- 



