408 ON THE ORIGIN, PROPAGATION, 



the dust of this dwelling contained tubercle bacilli 

 which were capable of infecting the lungs and larynx 

 of a man, as they did the peritoneum of a guinea- 



Pig*' 



On December 31, 1887, Cornet visited a man who 

 for two years had suffered from phthisis. He lived in 

 the same room with two brothers who were very ro- 

 bust, one of whom, however, had begun to cough, 

 though without any further evidence of serious disorder. 

 The patient had been at home for eight days, while 

 previously he had acted as foreman in a tailoring esta- 

 blishment. It was proved, to a certainty, that this 

 patient had taken the place of a colleague who had died 

 from phthisis of the throat, and who had been in the 

 habit of expectorating copiously upon the floor. In the 

 workroom, moreover, the present sufferer had occupied 

 a place next to the man who died. Cornet called upon 

 the proprietor of the establishment, who allowed him 

 every opportunity of examining the room, in which 

 eight or ten workmen were engaged. With dust rubbed 

 from about two square meters of the wall, near the spot 

 whe.-e the patient now works, Cornet infected guinea- 

 pigs and produced tuberculosis. He ridicules the notion 

 of ascribing this man's malady to any hereditary endow- 

 ment or predisposition, derived, say, from a phthisical 

 mother, which, after sleeping for twenty years, woke up 

 to action at the precise time when he was surrounded 

 by infective matter. Our author regards this, and 

 other similar cases which he adduces, as of special in- 

 terest. The tuberculous virus was here found in rooms 

 containing several workmen, who had thus an opportu- 

 nity of infecting each other. The infection, moreover, 

 occurred among tailors, who are known to be special 

 sufferers from phthisis. 



The general belief some time ago, which, to some 



