president's address. 39 



microscopist of resource and resolution. There is still one 

 subject on which I would fain be permitted to offer, for what 

 it may be worth, a suggestion. 



I am afraid that the very word " influenza " has become so 

 repugnant to us all that almost the sight or sound of it becomes 

 a metaphorical " breach of the peace." None the less we all 

 desire to see it mastered. There is an almost universal convic- 

 tion amongst the faculty that it will ultimately be found to 

 take its origin in some one or more forms of pathogenic 

 Bacteria. 



Between the search for such a form as a cause of a specific 

 disease and the working out of the life-history of saprophytic 

 organisms there is a wide interspace. Hospitals and hospital 

 laboratories are alone the places in which the former work can 

 be done, and it should, nay must, combine the knowledge of 

 the pathologist and physician with the skill and manipulative 

 ability of a microscopist of patience and resolution. 



Moreover, it is now well and clearly recognized that the dis- 

 covery of even an unusual form of bacillus or bacterium in the 

 secretions of a patient, living or dead, is by no means a 

 reason for announcing the discovery of the cause of a specific 

 disease. 



Now my investigations into the nature and characteristics of 

 bacteria were commenced before certain forms were demon- 

 strated to be specific viruses, before the nature of the patho- 

 genic bacteria was fully demonstrated. Moreover, this was, in 

 my case, only a lateral study to that of the monad group 

 known as Saprophytes ; hence, while some of my work led me, 

 as it were, to the very edge of pathological inquiry, I was 

 obliged to leave it there, having neither special medical train- 

 ing nor proper opportunity for its further pursuit on the patho- 

 genic side. 



But I am deeply interested in all researches of this nature, 

 and have followed with some care most of the efforts made to 

 endeavour to trace the origin of influenza to bacterial forms. 



What has struck me in following the work done in this 

 direction is the great variety of organic bodies, not only of the 

 usual bacterial order, but from the observations of some 

 specialists even what appear to be saprophytic forms have 

 been found in the blood of patients. 



