400 TIMOTHY RICHARDS LEWIS. 



cesses may be, chemistry and physiology have not yet revealed ; we 

 can therefore only judge of them by the changes of the tempera- 

 ture, &c., of the patient ; and, in the particular condition under 

 consideration by the occasional appearance and reappearance of 

 spirilla, whose presence is manifestly dependent on antecedent 

 changes. That the temperature commences to rise and that other 

 subjective symptoms are manifested before the appearance of 

 spirilla testifies to this, for it cannot be that they can exert an 

 influence before they are themselves existent. 



Dr. Charles Murehison, at the discussion on the germ- 

 theory of disease at the Pathological Society,^ put this matter 

 very clearly when he said ; " The fact that in relapsing fever and 

 sheep-pox distinct forms of bacteria have been found in no way 

 proves any casual relationship between these diseases and the 

 bacteria, and is readily accounted for by the acknowledged fact 

 that the form taken by many minute growths depends not upon 

 the germ, but upon the nature of the medium in which it grows. 

 Indeed, the observations which have been made on the spirilla of 

 relapsing fever are strongly in favour of this view, for they are 

 present in the blood during the first paroxysm, but disappear 

 before the crisis ; are absent during the intermission, but return 

 with the relapse of fever, and again disappear before the crisis. 

 It seems difficult to account for their app-earance and annihilation 

 twice over, except on the supposition that the soil was suitable 

 for their development during the febrile process, and unsuitable 

 when the febrile process was complete." The remarks which 

 Dr. Bastian made in opening the same discussion on his very 

 interesting observation as to the presence of bacteria in the fluid 

 of a blister-bleb of a febrile patient so long as the bleb remained 

 intact for forty -eight hours, whereas in the fluid of a bhster from 

 a healthy person no such appearances would be seen, point in the 

 same direction. 



A like conclusion must be arrived at regarding the bacilH in 

 malignant pustule, septicsemia, and the so-called " typhoid fever " 

 in the pig, horse, and other animals. "With regard to the micro- 

 phytes just named, it may be confidently stated that they are 

 never to be detected in the earlier stages of the disease, but only 

 at a brief period before and after a fatal termination. To my 

 knowledge they have never been found in the blood of animals 

 which have subsequently recovered ; they have always been 

 recognised only as one of the concomitants of impending dissolu- 

 tion. This is undoubtedly the case so far as the two diseases 

 first cited are concerned, and judging from what is known regard- 

 ing them, I presume that the development of such organisms in 

 the blood of the inoculated pigs was not one of the symptoms 

 ' 'The Lancet' and 'British Medical Journal,' April, 1875. 



