president's address. 683 



more about them, and discover new microscopic methods, we shall 

 be able, doubtless, to distinguish them more effectually ; as at 

 present there is great physical resemblance between some forms 

 which cause very different fevers. All the above organisms are 

 classed as Thallogens, the order to which they belong being the 

 Schi%omycetes. Small as they are, these bodies propagate by 

 spores considerably smaller than themselves ; the mischief which 

 they cause will be better understood when I remind you that 

 their smallness allows them to get into the blood corpuscles and 

 there propagate, and in doing so produce great impoverishment 

 of this fluid. The question naturally arises, will a given kind 

 of germ always produce the same result ? Can smallpox germs 

 be so altered as not to cause smallpox ? Gravitz has shown that 

 simple germs which are naturally not at all harmful can be 

 made by careful cultivation intensely dangerous, and vice versa it 

 has been shown that those of splenic fever can be made so mild 

 as not to be nearly so dangerous as usual, and so to be safely used 

 as inoculants. Yet those which cause one infectious disease 

 have never been transformed into those which can cause another ; 

 in other words, the smallpox germ cannot produce scarlet fever. 

 Interesting as all this is to the scientist, how much more is it to 

 the physician, who hails in these discoveries the first step to the 

 elimination, or at any rate, alleviation of the hitherto greatest 

 curses upon mankind. 



The recent complete and overwhelming destruction of all our 

 property involves us in a momentous struggle that will require 

 our utmost energies and persistent action for years to come. Let us 

 then act strenuously and unitedly for the grand cause until we 

 regain step by step the prosperous condition we held as it were 

 but yesterday. 



[The President described at some length the operation of 

 recent legislation upon Oyster Culture, and suggested various 

 improvements which might without difficulty be introduced into 

 the Act. This portion of the address is necessarily of local and 



