DEPARTMENT REPORTS. 43 



tnvestigations, but their bearing is more general and passes, in reality, 

 into the domain of general physiology. 



Upon a detailed study of these substances, the student will soon con- 

 clude that there is much in their nature which corresponds closely to 

 the nature and functions of higher organisms. The Ehrlich hypothe- 

 sis, which has been introduced for the purpose of answering, and does 

 answer the phenomena connected with the nature of toxins and anti- 

 t(>xins, has given a great impetus to the study of the phenomenon 

 of nutrition, and this hypothesis has been adopted by many capable 

 v/orkers. 



Because of the close relationship existing between the reactions of anti- 

 toxins and toxins with the cells of the body, and likewise between foods 

 and their reactions, there is every reason to believe that such an hypothe- 

 sis will eventually lead to such experimental data as may give conclusive 

 evidence concerning the methods of body nutrition. 



Besides what we have hinted at in connection with the nutritive pro- 

 cesses of the higher organisms, as compared with those simi^ler forms 

 which are studied in bacteriology, there are other functional operations 

 v/hich could be carried out in further comparisons. 



The next standpoint from which bacteriology could be considered is 

 that of application. For this purpose it will be well to divide the mat- 

 ter for discussion into several parts. 



HYGIENIC AND MEDICAL DACTEUIOLOGY. 



Were it possible to draw an outline depicting the conditions which 

 existed 50 years ago in medicine, and by its side another Avhich would 

 illustrate the conditions which are known at present, then we could, 

 in part, appreciate what bacteriology has done' for the human family 

 through the medical profession. How many lives were dissipated by 

 the surgery' of old cannot be estimated, but asepsis and antisepsis have 

 made it possible to enter almost every part of the body with ease, unless 

 functional operations are interfered with. Confinement has lost mucli 

 of. its dread through the initiative work of Lister and others. In this 

 phase of medicine alone sulhcient has been done for motherhood to 

 place this science among the foremost in the providing of fundamental 

 knowledge, for this well illustrates how it dips into the varied aspects 

 of daily life, not as a pure scientific subject, but rather as an applicable 

 fact. In proportion to the knowledge acquired, does it become extremely 

 useful, because an intelligent understanding of it is essential to economii; 

 direction. 



Again, sanitary science would be ineft'ective were it not for thi-^ 

 science which underlies it. Lives and business have been saved by the 

 practical methods of fighting communicable diseases furnished through 

 this science. This may be easily seen in what has been done for Cuba 

 through the stamping out of yellow fever and what is being under- 

 taken by the U. S. government at Panama to render life secure during 

 the building of the inter-oceanic canal. Note also the common use of 

 black-leg vaccine, employed throughout the Avest for cattle, and to a 

 considerable extent in Michigan. Vaccines for anthrax and other dis- 

 eases are to be placed to its credit. Anti-toxins have been found and 

 are utilized to counteract the toxins produced by micro-organisms. A 



