THE RELATIONS OF THERAPEUTICS 169 



as phosphorus acts upon the formation of bone, but that there are 

 also cell excitants, such as cantharidin, which, without themselves 

 having any effect on the bacteria, can bring about the cure of dis- 

 eased tissues, so that the nosoparasitic bacilli are destroyed. 



But here begins a branch of science which, like the theory of 

 immunity and serum therapy, occupied the end of the nineteenth 

 century, and the waves of discussion still run so high that it is as 

 yet unsuitable for an historical survey. It is sufficient to say that 

 all the investigations of the present as well as of the past century 

 afford us a guarantee that we are following the right road of pro- 

 gress in therapeutics, and assure us that in regard to the healing 

 of disease there lie before us "infinite possibilities," to use the apt 

 phrase which has been already employed in regard to the devel- 

 opment of your country by Ludwig Max Goldberger, "Das Land 

 der un-begrenzten Moeglichkeiten." 



