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Vou. IX. DETROIT, JUNE, 1889. No. 6. 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
INFLUENCE OF MICRO-ORGANISMS IN CARIES OF THE 
TEETH. * 
F. O. JACOBS, D. D. S. 
HAVE seen recently in Tur Microscope, a reference to a paper, 
by Dr. W. D. Miller, of Berlin, in which he advocates the 
theory that micro-organisms are to a large extent the cause of caries 
of the teeth. 
The writer seemed to indorse his (Miller’s) views. 
I have seen Dr, Miller’s paper on the subject, and think some 
of his statements rather remarkable. I thought it no harm to bring 
the subject before the society. I did not think his reasons for hold- 
ing such an opinion sufficiently convincing; I do not dispute but that 
various species of bacteria may and do produce disease, but in many 
cases they are merely the accidental accompaniment of disease. I 
think caries of the teeth is one. As to their being able to cause 
decay of a tissue containing such an excess of inorganic matter as 
the teeth, especially in the way he points out, is hardly probable. 
I was inclined to class his discovery along with many others 
that have come to us from beyond the sea; such as fossil organisms 
in meteorites, the reticulum, homceopathy, mesmerism, phrenology, 
ete. I would not have you think that I am of the opinion that all 
real discoveries, everything that is genuine, must have originated in 
my own country. Irecognize the fact that many of our greatest — 
* Read before the Ohio State Microscopical Society, November 22, 1888. 
