36 llanual of Veterinary Microbiology . 



wliich excite a more complete combustion of organic 

 matter; on the other hand, the dissemination in the 

 soil of the fluid products of putrefaction renders the 

 action of the anaerobic germs more general. 



From a practical point of view these facts ought to 

 be taken into account, as their rational application 

 enables us to limit the intervention of microbes in 

 putrefaction, several of which possess pathogenic prop- 

 erties and the emanations from which are in all cases 

 to be avoided. The earth-system (burial of the cadaver 

 in furnace-dried earth) realizes the ideal from this 

 point of view. 



Putrefaction is always slower in water and in the 

 soil on account of the lower temperature of these 

 media. 



3. Role in the organism in the pathological condi- 

 tion. 



A certain number of microbes which meet with 

 conditions favorable to their development within the 

 organism of animals are the determining cause of dis- 

 eases in these animals. These diseases are most fre- 

 quently contagious. The pathogenic property of a 

 microbe is a functional attribute of its vital faculties ; 

 in other words, it is to the life of the germ, to its 

 nutritive requirements, to its secretions and excretions, 

 and to its multiplication, that we must ascribe the dis- 

 turbances which it determines. The study of patho- 

 genic microbes, the principal object of this work, will 

 be considered in the second and third parts. 



