472 State Board of Agriculture, &c. 



two or three years, the term, "The germ theory of dis- 

 ease." In some this may have awakened no feelings of 

 cm-iosity, even ; others may have been content witli the 

 belief that all our ills are in accordance with divine 

 decree, and that it is an inscrutable Providence that takes 

 our loved ones from us. And, as is natural, many will be 

 loth to believe that any neglect on their part has been the 

 cause of the fatal illness of some dear child. And thus, 

 between indifference and indisposition to look for causes, 

 this subject has not ^awakened an interest at all commen- 

 surate with its importance. 



That most diseases depend upon a specific cause, per- 

 haps no one will deny ; and it has been customary to speak 

 of this, often, as a prevailing influence — a something in the 

 air, and thus, like many another, they "builded better than 

 they knew." 



It is this ide7itical something that we are looking for 

 both in the air and in water. 



The researches of a great number of observers, aided by 

 the microscope, possess for us a profound importance. It 

 is certain that the . microscope has shown us the identical 

 exciting cause of very many diseases. Small pox is a not- 

 able example, as well as some of the fevers. In the above, 

 the blood and tissues are the seat of certain growths, which 

 are always present, either in one or the other. 



I may be pardoned for saying what you all, perhaps, 

 know, that the microscope reveals to us a world of its 

 own, filled with life, both animal and vegetable, as various 

 as the one we see. 



It is necessary to know the names of but few of these 



