THE BACTERIA IN CONTAGIOUS MALADIES. 167 
proceedings based upon the idea of an infection of 
the entire organism, are placed the local treatment 
destined to destroy the bacteria at their point 
of entry: these are, caustic potash, sublimate, the 
paste of Canqouin, the hot iron. These two cate- 
gories of means employed sometimes alone, some- 
times simultaneously, show that the idea of the 
clinicians has always been the destruction of an 
infectious organism. 
Variola.— The partisans of the parasitic na- 
ture of variola may be divided into two groups: 
1. Those who, with Coze and Feltz, attribute 
the virulence to a Bacterium; 2. Those who, 
with Luginbiihl and Weigert, attribute it to a 
Micrococcus. Coze and Feltz have indeed dis- 
covered Bacteria in the blood of variola, and this 
blood injected into the veins of a rabbit has given 
it a mortal malady, which these observers consider 
variola. But Chauveau has shown that the af- 
fection which proved fatal to the subjects of the 
experiment was not and could not be variola. 
Another objection is that Bacteria are not found 
in all those who suffer from variola. However, 
Coze and Feltz and Baudouin affirm that there 
are in variolous blood numerous rods, of which the 
appearance is similar to that of Bacterium bacillus 
and Bacterium termo of Miiller. These elements 
do not at all resemble those found in other infec- 
tions, and when inoculated possess the power of 
reproducing variola. 
As to the Micrococcus of variola, they have 
