266 



DISEASE. 



jects of examination are divided into three 

 classes, cysts, spores, and micrococcus, the three 

 elements of Hallier's theory. Mr. Lewis took 

 direct observations of choleraic discharges, in 

 comparison with observations on other media, 

 partly by the use of reagents, time, and tem- 

 perature, and partly by cultivation experi- 

 ments. In 1866 Hallier discovered in chole- 

 raic discharges yellowish - colored cysts of 

 spherical or oval forms, inclosing yellowish 

 shining spores various in size, also groups of 

 swollen spores surrounded by minute molecu- 

 lar matter (so-called micrococcus), proceeding 

 apparently from the breaking up of the spores. 

 These molecules were seen to adhere to vari- 

 ous objects in the fluid on which they appeared 

 to feed, exhibiting signs of germination, group- 

 ings, filamentary arrangements, and finally 

 branching filaments. The resulting fungus, 

 and polycystus, were considered by Hallier to 

 resemble the rye-fungus of Europe, and proba- 

 bly to be present in the diseased rice of India ; 

 and he held that this, introduced into the in- 

 testinal canal and then passing through the 

 various stages of its existence, caused the phe- 

 nomena of cholera by its action on the intes- 

 tinal epithelium. Nature, summing up Mr. 

 Lewis's labors, says : 



As regards Hallier's cysts, Mr. Lewis states that he 

 has never met with any in fresh cholera discharges, 

 but that he had repeatedly developed them. The 

 other cyst-like bodies proved to be either fragments 

 of tissues or ova, none being peculiar to cholera. 

 Cultivation experiments with cholera discharge con- 

 taining cyst-like bodies yielded branching fungi with 

 macroconidia, which gave place to aspergillus ; in 

 other cultivations, however, the only products were 

 penicillium and aspergillus. Mr. Lewis admits that 

 cysts distinctly resembling those of Hallier may be 

 developed by cultivation from cholera discharges, 

 but that he had found them only three times in more 

 than a hundred cultivations. 



Their development is therefore not a constant phe- 

 nomenon, and Mr. Lewis further shows that cysts of 

 the same character can be developed in discharges 

 not choleraic. Bodies resembling spores are very 

 common in cholera discharges, and Mr. Lewis be- 

 stows much pains in demonstrating their true nature. 

 He illustrates every step of the inquiry by slides, 

 and classifies the bodies under the four following 

 heads : 1. Globules, of a fatty nature. 2. Altered 

 blood-cells. 3. Corpuscles, embedded in a tenacious 

 substance. 4. Globular condition of certain infuso- 

 ria. The corpuscles in class 3 are amoeboid in char- 

 acter, and are probably due to effused blood-plasma. 

 There is no evidence of the presence of spores of 

 fungi. 



The last subject inquired into was the so-called 

 micrococcus, the supposed " germ " of cholera, which 

 in Hallier's view might pass into the human body in 

 water or air, and then give rise to cholera by devel- 

 oping itself at the expense of nitrogenous material, 

 especially intestinal epithelium. 



Mr. Lewis shows that minutely-divided matter is 

 not more prevalent in choleraic than in other dis- 

 charges, indeed, less so, but that attempts to produce 

 micrococcus by cultivation had entirely failed^ possi- 

 bly on account of the many sources of fallacy in such 

 experiments. 



He gives the results of a number of observations 

 made with infusions and decoctions of animal mat- 

 ter, including cultivations with cholera discharge, 

 and shows that, in spite of every care in the manipu- 

 lations, very different forms of life will make their 



appearance in substances derived from the same 

 source, and under apparently identical conditions. 

 His general conclusions on this first stage of the in- 

 quiry are 



1. That no cysts exist in choleraic discharges which 

 are not found under other conditions. 2. That cysts 

 or "sporangia" of fungi are very rarely found under 

 any circumstances in alvine discharges. 3. That no 



rcial fungus has been developed in cholera dis- 

 rges, the fungus described by Hallier being cer- 

 tainly not confined to such. 4. That there are no 

 animalcular developments, either as to nature or pro- 

 portionate amount, peculiar to cholera, and that the 

 same organisms may be developed in nitrogenous 

 material even outside the body. Lastly, that the 

 supposed debris of intestinal epithelium is not of this 

 origin, but appears to result from effused blood- 

 plasma. 



Unless these conclusions are materially modified 

 on subsequent inquiry, they must be considered as 

 disposing of Hallier's theory of cholera. Should, 

 however, Mr. Lewis's further investigations prove 

 that Hallier's fungus is present in choleraic dis- 

 charges and in diseased rice as a constant, we should 

 still require scientific proof that cholera was caused 

 by the action of this fungus and by nothing else. 



Pettenkoffer's theory of cholera connects the prev- 

 alence of the disease with certain conditions of damp 

 subsoil and subsoil water, besides the presence of a 

 " germ." Little has been done as yet in this por- 

 tion of the cholera inquiry. What has been done 

 is very interesting, although it does not support 

 the theory. Observations regarding it have been 

 made at Allahabad, Cawnpore, Lucknow, Fyza- 

 bad, Agra, Morar, Meerut, and Peshawur. The sub- 

 soil-water experiments do not appear to sustain Pet- 

 tenkoffer's views. 



Dr. Bastian, in a lecture before the Univer- 

 sity College of London, attacked the germ-the- 

 ory of disease. He said that the advocates of 

 the theory have always rested their belief in it 

 because they considered that it offered a ready 

 explanation of the virus of the contagious 

 diseases within the body of the affected per- 

 son. This they suppose is not otherwise to be 

 explained. But all considerations adduced in 

 support of the theory are explicable by another 

 supposition. Dr. Bastian admits that there are 

 certain diseases which do undoubtedly depend 

 on the presence and multiplication of organ- 

 isms in the blood, and throughout the tissues 

 generally. Such is the epidemic and highly- 

 contagious disease among cattle, called in Eng- 

 land " the blood," and shown to be dependent 

 on the presence and multiplication of living 

 organisms, closely allied to "vibriones," in the 

 blood of the animals affected, and that similar 

 organisms are also locally most abundant in 

 the contagiously-incited "malignant pustule" 

 of man. Pasteur's researches on silk-worms 

 also establish the cause of the fatal epidemic, 

 from which those creatures suffer, to be a pe- 

 culiar corpuscular organism, which he terms 

 psorospermia, in all the tissues of the body. 

 But these, says Bastian, are rare and peculiar 

 cases, and he grants that there may be other 

 parasitic diseases among animals ; but, in all 

 the specific diseases to which man is liable, the 

 author has invariably failed to discover any 

 traces of organisms in the blood. He says : 



The experience of. many other observers has been 

 similar to my own in this respect. But if living 



