THE GERM-THEORY OF DISEASE. 



313 



were, dead organized ferment may still, in spite 

 of the usual evidence to the contrary, lurk in the 

 seemingly "sterilized" fluid. This, however, is 

 the very point about which there is no shadow 

 of doubt in regard to zymosis. Possible ferments 

 without number are, by necessity, present in the 

 form of tissue-elements. So that if we are to be 

 guided by the analogy upon which all germ-theo- 

 rists so strongly rely, the independent generation 

 of a zymotic process should, for the reason above 

 specified, be incomparably more easy to be brought 

 about than fermentation in a germless fluid. In 

 regard to the independent origin of a zymosis, 

 the all-important point is, not whether latent 

 ferments exist, but whether any causes, or sets 

 of unhygienic conditions, can rouse or modify, in 

 certain special modes, the activity of any of these 

 myriads of potential ferments of which the hu- 

 man organism is so largely composed. And if, 

 as some germ-theorists would have us believe, 

 impotent germs of common ferment-organisms, 

 incapable of exclusion, are also widely dissemi- 

 nated throughout the body, these, if they are such 

 unavoidable elements, could (in regard to the eti- 

 ology of disease) only be looked upon as com- 

 ponents of the body, ranking side by side with 

 the tissue-elements themselves. 



Thus such organized ferments or germs as are 

 possibly absent from the " sterilized " experimen- 

 tal fluids are confessedly present by myriads in 

 persons who may be sickening under the influ- 

 ence of various unhygienic conditions or non- 

 specific states of the system ; and the only point 

 which is regarded as doubtful in connection with 

 the de novo origin of a zymosis is what analogy 

 might lead us to affirm as completely proved by 

 my experiments, viz., that certain conditions, or 

 states of system, may be capable of rousing some 

 of such ferments into a specific kind of activity, 

 wholly apart from the influence of any specific 

 contagia coming from without. 1 



1 While the last sheets of this paper are passing 

 through the press, a very interesting address by Dr. 

 B. W. Richardson, F.R.S., has been published (Nature, 

 October 4, 1877), entitled " A Theory as to the Nat- 

 ural or Glandular Origin of the Contagious Diseases." 

 In it the author advances many strong arguments 

 against the germ-theory ; he also propounds some in- 

 teresting speculations as to the mode of origin and 

 action of the chemical principles, or poisons, which 

 constitute, as he believes, the " contagia " of the com- 

 municable diseases. Some such views make a very 

 fitting supplement to tbe doctrines which I have been 

 here attempting to establish in regard to these dis- 

 eases ; only we must, as Dr. Richardson observes, 

 seek gradually to put well-proved facts in the places 

 now occupied by mere speculations. In regard to the 

 practical aspects of the two opposite doctrines, Dr. 



Even if independent ferment organisms of 

 common or special kinds do make their appear- 

 ance during any process of zymosis originated in 

 the manner above suggested, they would, from 

 the point of view of the etiology of disease, be 

 just as much consequences of the morbific influ- 

 ences as proliferation of tissue-elements is a con- 

 sequence of the direct application of acetic acid 

 or any other irritant. 



But here, in order to make this point of view 

 more plain, a short digression is necessary. 



The intracellular fermentation in vegetal tis- 

 sues supplies us with a kind of link between the 

 ordinary processes of fermentation and the zy- 

 motic processes of animals. MM. Lechartier and 

 Bellamy, as well as Pasteur and others, have now 

 clearly shown that in vegetal tissues placed under 

 certain abnormal or unhealthy conditions, fer- 

 mentative phenomena take place essentially simi- 

 lar to those occurring in solutions containing in- 

 dependent ferment-organisms. And just as the 

 vegetal cell can do what, in other cases, the inde- 

 pendent organism does, so it is supposed that in 

 the process of zymosis tissue-elements may take 

 on a specifically faulty action, leading to the for- 

 mation of certain chemical principles or "con- 

 tagia " in the fluids or tissues of the animal body ; 

 so that, in the great majority of zymotic diseases, 

 offcast particles from the body, whether living or 

 dead, when saturated with such principles, may 

 constitute the veritable contagia by which the 

 specific disease is spread abroad among the com- 

 munity. 



In the majority of the cases of intracellular 

 fermentation no independent organisms are gen- 

 erated, though in others, as in that of the beet- 

 root and the potato, they are invariable con- 

 comitants. Similarly in the majority of zymotic 

 diseases no independent organisms are generated, 

 though in others, such as relapsing fever and 



Richardson makes some very pertinent observations. 

 '•If the contagium vivum view be true," be says, " if 

 the air around us is charged with invisible germs, 

 which come whence we know not, which have unlim- 

 ited power to fertilize, which need never cease to 

 fertilize and multiply, what hope is there for the 

 skill of man to overcome these hidden foes ? Why on 

 some occasion may not a plague spread over tbe 

 whole world, and destroy its life universally ? While, 

 on the other hand, if the opposite notion be true, we 

 have complete mastery over the diffusion of the poi- 

 sons of all the communicable diseases. We have but 

 to keep steadily in view that the producing and the 

 reproducing poweris in the affected body, and wecan, 

 even with our present knowledge, all but completely 

 limit the action to the propagating power of that 

 body — its power. I mean, of secretion and diffusion of 

 secretion.— October 6, 1877. 



