Bcimce progress. 



No. 17. July, 1895. Vol. III. 



THE PATHOLOGICAL RESULTS OF THE 

 ROYAL COMMISSION ON TUBERCULOSIS. 



TUBERCULOSIS is a disease which has been the 

 subject of study from time immemorial, but it may be 

 said that the first glimpse into the true nature of the disease 

 was obtained when it was shown to be an infective disorder 

 by Villemin, and the study of its nature and mode of 

 infection first received a scientific basis through the 

 discovery by Koch in 1882 of the infective agent : the 

 bacillus tuberculosis. For many years the study of the 

 disease was limited to its anatomical characteristics, both 

 to the naked eye and to the microscope, with the result of 

 causing" great confusion in the conception of what tuberculosis 

 really was. Indeed the large number of theories which w r ere 

 prevalent before the discovery of the bacillus as to what 

 constituted the specific character of the tuberculous lesion 

 produced nothing but chaos. The study of the anatomy of 

 the disease, both as regards its histological nature and the 

 distribution of the lesions in man and animals, the subject of 

 natural tuberculosis, is, however, of great importance, and 

 was the foundation of our clinical knowledge of the disease. 

 But such a study is very vague and leads to erroneous conclu 

 sions unless the mode of origin of the disease is also investi- 

 gated. The study of infective diseases has this important 

 advantage, viz., that once the infective agent is known, the 

 mode of origin, the channels of infection, and the spread of 

 the disease in the different stages can be studied experi- 



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