AND CONTENTS OF THE MOUTH. 313 



proved from the dental tartar of the Egyptian mummies, in which 

 its filaments have been found intact by Zopf and Miller, by means 

 of dissolving the calcareous salts with acids/'' 



We would like to make further considerations upon certain 

 points of the present Bacteriological doctrines ; but, in order to 

 keep as far as possible within the clinical area to which our re- 

 searches are directed, we come to the final conclusion. 



RECAPITULATION. 



In summing up what has been exhibited in the Bacteriological 

 part of the preceding Memoir and the present one, we may con- 

 clude as follows : — 



I. — Amidst all forms or types of bacteria or bacilli to be found 

 in the sputa, normal or pathological, there exist points of transi- 

 tion, manifesting their polymorphism, and the gradual passage from 

 one type to the other. 



II. — Of the types in question, there is not one which cannot 

 be found even in the contents of the mouth, or in the nasal 

 mucus, and the balano-praeputialis patina. They do not morpho- 

 logically differ from each other ; therefore, it is generally main- 

 tained that the bacteria and bacilli found in sputa, in normal 

 conditions, are simply secondary disseminations of the buccal or 

 nasal microbes. 



III. — But when we deal with bacteria, rightly or wrongly 

 reputed pathogenic — (as, for instance, the pneumococcus or the 

 bacillus of Koch) — it is another matter. We cannot grant their 

 buccal origin, setting up, instead, the hypothesis of their having a 

 specific origin from without. 



Nevertheless, even these types cannot be morphologically dis 

 tinguished from their corresponding types of the contents of the 

 mouth or of the nasal mucus. We should have, at least, to 

 demonstrate, in a positive manner, that the former do not proceed 

 from the latter, although those same microbes are (like the other 

 buccal microbes) thrown by swarms into the air-passages. But that 

 demonstration has not been given ; nay, the only notion upheld 



*Zopf, Die Spaltpilze, Breslau, 1883, page 80. Miller, Prehistoric Teeth 

 {Independ. Practitioner y 1884). 



International Journal of Microscopy and Natural Science. 



Third Series. Vol. V. x 



