(JKKM 



GERMAN CATHOLICS 



169 



gonorrhea, nepticifmia, n \ -i|..-la-, actinomycosiii, 

 With considerable probability we may add 

 \\ hooping I'on-li, mra>lr>, scarlatina, typhus, .-m;ill 

 pox, oydrophobia, U'tanuw, British cholera, iVc. ; 

 out tin- r\ idiMicc regarding these and others in 

 ili'tWtivr, ami, in some owes, less substantive than 

 analogical. 



The specific organisms associated more or less 

 \actly with those diseases are niemltere of the 

 Croups (a) Coccaceiv and (b) Bacteriaceu3 (see 



I! MTKItlA). 



The admis8ion that certain diseases are due to 

 the presence and action of specific living organisms 

 raises the further questions : ( 1 ) How do they 

 enter the body ? (2) How do they act? 



( 1 ) How do they enter the body ? It has \>een 

 conclusively shown that the Bacillu-i tuberculosis 

 may obtain access by the inhalation of germ-laden 

 air, by the ingestion of affected milk and possibly 

 of tubercular meat, perhaps, too, through a cut 

 or sore. It seems also likely that the bacilli may 

 be transmitted from mother to foetus by way of 

 the circulation. Similar lines of attack may be 

 ] HIM Heated of all the pathogenic .organisms. Not- 

 ably, in connection with wounds, it is important 

 to bear in mind the possibility of infection with 

 the germs which induce septicaemia a fact on 

 which was based the great advance in surgery 

 associated with the name of Lister. See ANTI- 

 SEPTIC SURGERY. 



The possibility of infection varies much accord- 

 ing to the conditions of growth of the particular 

 organism and the receptivity of the host. This 

 explains, on the one hand, the popularly accepted 

 view that certain diseases are mucn more infective 

 than others. Thus, typhoid fever differs widely 

 from scarlatina in respect of degree of contagious- 

 ness. On the other hand, some persons undoubtedly 

 are more susceptible to the attacks of certain organ- 

 isms. Thus, among the subjects of tuberculosis, it 

 is probable that preparedness of soil plays an 

 important part in the production of the disease. 

 And so with other pathogenic organisms. These 

 processes have their analogy in the more common 

 phenomena of vegetable life. Sow some seeds and 

 they will germinate and grow on any soil, however 

 unlikely. Other seeds may be scattered profusely, 

 but will not develop, unless the soil has been care- 

 fully prepared and the other conditions of growth 

 be fulfilled. It is impossible to enter here on the 

 discussion of those conditions. Necessarily they vary 

 much with different organisms. But it is important 

 to realise the extreme value, from the therapeutic 

 point of view, of their careful study. The first step 

 to a rational treatment of such diseases is to know 

 the responsible organism. This knowledge must 

 include not only its shape and other physical char- 

 acters, but the life-history of the microbe, and the 

 conditions which assist or retard its development 

 and reproduction. Such knowledge affords the only 

 sound basis for a system of preventive medicine, 

 which constitutes one of the most important depart- 

 ments of practical hygiene. Although still in its 

 infancy, the preventive treatment of endemic, epi- 

 demic, and other contagious diseases has now become 

 scientific. 



(2) How do the organisms act ? This is a much- 

 debated question. It has been the subject of some 

 of the most valuable of recent researches in this 

 department. Do they act mechanically as irritants? 

 Or is their action privative, by stealing from the 

 tissues elements which are necessary to their de- 

 velopment ? Or have they a power of elaborating 

 (or secreting) new products, which exert a toxic 

 influence on the affected body ? This last view is 

 supported by weighty evidence and by the analogy 

 of the fermentation processes already referred to. 

 It would therefore seem that the microbe has the 



power of disturbing or rather that, in order to 

 the preservation of it* own life, the microbe b 

 compelled to disturb the molecular arrangement 

 of the elementH in the medium in which it \ de- 

 veloping. The product** thus elaborated liave been 

 i<-iiii'<| Ptomaines ( I'totitii). They were MO named 

 by Sdmi, who discovered their pretteiice in the dead 

 body during various stages of putrefaction. The 

 ptomaine doctrine haw been accepted in explana- 

 tion of the process of septica-mia, and there in good 

 reason for extending ito application to the other 

 infective processes. It is essential, however, to re- 

 member tnat, after the microbe has succeeded in 

 invading the tissues, its further progress in not un- 

 opposed. There is a constant warfare between the 

 living cells of the host and the living and multiply- 

 ing cells of the invader, the contest being decided 

 in favour of the stronger. The researches of Metach- 

 nikoff and others seem to show that the bacilli can 

 be destroyed by the white corpuscles of the blood. 



Granted that the organisms have entered the 

 tissues or circulation, there still remain for the 

 physician two modes of attack : ( a ) by attempting 

 to exterminate the microl>e itself through such 

 agents as may be discovered to be jMJSsessed of 

 germicidal properties ; (b) by endeavouring to anta- 

 gonise the poison which the microl>e is distributing 

 through the system. Many difficulties attend lM>th 

 methods, inasmuch as agents sufficiently potent to 

 effect either object are themselves likely to prove 

 injurious to the infected tissues. The aim of cura- 

 tive medicine is the discovery of remedies capable 

 of preventing the growth of the microbe, yet 

 innocuous to the host. 



Reference must be made, in conclusion, to the 

 question of immunity. It is veil ascertained that 

 certain animals are not susceptible to the attacks 

 of certain pathogenic organisms, and that others 

 suffer comparatively slightly. In man there may 

 be traced the occurrence of individual immunity. 

 Such facts have not yet received a satisfactory 

 explanation. The almost universal immunity after 

 a first attack of certain fevers and the comparative 

 immunity from smallpox conferred by Vaccination 

 ( q. v. ) are of interest in this connection. The experi- 

 ments of Pasteur and others on Bacillus anthracix 

 indicate that by repeated cultivation under special 

 conditions it is possible to lessen the virulence of 

 the most virulent of organisms and that inocula- 

 tion with this altered bacillus confers immunity 

 against further attack. More striking still are the 

 experiments of Pasteur in connection with rabies 

 (Hydrophobia, q.v.). By a special method that ob- 

 server has accomplished an attenuation of the virus 

 the microbe not having been determined where- 

 by the worst features of the disease are disturbed. 

 By this means it has been found possible in cases of 

 infection to anticipate a serious attack by the intro- 

 duction of this modified virus. In explanation of 

 this it has been supposed that a poisonous ptomaine 

 is germinated during the process, which, when in- 

 jected in quantity during the stage of incubation 

 of the disease, prevents the development of the 

 supposititious germ. Those and other kindred 

 observations disclose a most hopeful development 

 of the germ theory in the direction of preventive 

 inoculation. 



The literature is a very large one. For general pur- 

 poses the following may be consulted : Tyndall, Es*iyi 

 on the Floating Matter of the Air; Watson Chcyne, 

 Antiseptic Surgery ; Pasteur, Studies on Fermentation ; 

 Duclaux, Ferments et Maladie* ; FlUgge, Ftrmente and 

 Mikroparasiten ; Schiitzenberger, Let Fermentation* ; 

 Gussonbauer, Pyo-hamie und Pyo-Sephthamie ; and the 

 works of Lister, Klein, &<x 



German Barm. See YEAST. 

 German Catholics (Ger. DcutschkatholikcH) 

 is the name given to a body in Germany that 



