MICKO-ORGANISMS AS PARASITES. 21 



terrified people actually believed they saw. M. Emile Souvestre 

 asked the cure of a country village, in the Lyonnais (Brittany), 

 what precautions his flock had taken against cholera. Slowly and 

 silently the poor priest led his friend into the churchyard, and 

 there showed him twelve open graves. That was the only 

 preparation of which these poor creatures could think, and so 

 terrible was the pestilence when it came, that carts and horses 

 failed to convey the number of victims, and wives and mothers 

 were to be seen bearing their beloved dead to their last resting- 

 place. Gradually it came to be recognised amongst the educated 

 classes that cleanliness was a deadly foe to cholera; that where the 

 drainage of a place was good, and above all where the water 

 supply was pure, safety might reasonably be expected. We can 

 hardly assert that it has been the superior piety and virtue of the 

 Enghsh which kept our country free from cholera during the late 

 fierce outbreak (1886) in France, Italy, and Spain. Our drainage 

 and our water supply leave much to be desired, but they are 

 incomparably better than the drainage and water supply of most 

 continental towns and villages, more especially those of Southern 

 Europe. 



The patient and prolonged investigations of Koch have 

 satisfied many minds as to the fact that cholera is caused by the 

 presence of a specific micro-organism in the intestines, the 

 SpiriUiiiii Cholerce Asiatiav, popularly known as the Comma 

 Bacillus. In the very latest scientific journals (August, 1887), 

 and those of the highest character, the fact is assumed as proved. 

 New particulars are given as to the life history and peculiarities 

 of S. Cholerce Asiatiae, but no one thinks of disputing the right 

 of this spirillum to its distinguishing name. Of the difficulty of 

 the task undertaken by Koch, he speaks thus : — " When I 

 undertook this commission (from the German Government) I was 

 well aware of the difficulty of the task before me. Absolutely 

 nothing was known with regard to the virus of cholera, and I was 

 at a loss where to seek for it, whether in the intestinal canal, 

 or in the blood, or in some other place. Further, one did not know 

 whether bacteria would have to be dealt with, or some kind of 

 fungus, or an animal parasite, such as an amoeba. Even the 

 description of post-mortem appearances given in the text-books 



