MICRO-ORGANISMS AS PARASITES, 31 



relied upon as remedies for fever, and calomel, with close 

 confinement to hot, airless rooms, was thought the best treatment 

 for consumption. By bleeding, the dauntless, active little soldiers, 

 which sought to save the organism of which they formed a part, 

 were ruthlessly drained away, and the weakened patient only 

 escaped death by a species of miracle ! In most of the intensely 

 infectious zymotic diseases, the contest is of the nature of a 

 pitched battle, and in the white races, with a fair chance of victory 

 on the part of the patient. Where, however, the micro-organism 

 finds itself in virgin soil, as amongst the natives of the South Seas 

 and the Red Indians of North America, its ravages resemble those 

 of the mediaeval plagues of Europe in deadliness. The terrible 

 ravages caused by the introduction of measles into the Fiji Islands, 

 a few years ago, will probably be fresh in the recollection of 

 most of us. 



My aim and ambition in writing this paper has been to send 

 any readers, who have been interested, straight to the original 

 authorities I have consulted, with the hope that they may therein 

 find the information and the keen interest I have found. My 

 apology for venturing to deal with subjects of which I have no 

 experimental knowledge, must be made in Professor Huxley's 

 words, on quitting the chair of the Royal Society: — "The man 

 who works away at one corner of nature, shutting his eyes to all 

 the rest, diminishes his chance of seeing what is to be seen in that 

 corner. That zvhich the investigator perceives depends much more 

 on what lies behind his sense-organs, thaii on the object in front of 

 them." Here comes in the function of the person who assiduously 

 collects and arranges the facts discovered by others. The writer 

 of the "History of Astronomy in the XIX. Century " has probably 

 made no astronomical discoveries herself. But what services she has 

 rendered in her clear account of the enormous progress of 

 astronomical science ! Again, the world made little progress — 

 indeed, had a way of constantly going back — whilst the wise men 

 kept their wisdom to themselves, despising the vulgar herd of 

 mortals. Knowledge, if it is to be of real service in eradicating 

 ignorance and superstition, must be made clear and plain to the 

 many. Darwin had the extraordinary genius and patience, not 

 only to make more original observations than perhaps any other 



