498 



MICRO-ORGANISMS IN DISEASE. 



of copper, 1 to 2,500 ; quinine, 1 to 500 ; cor- 

 rosive sublimate, 1 to 100,000. It might be 

 inferred that nothing would be easier than to 

 kill the parasites within the human intestine 

 by administering such drugs as are known to 

 exercise a germicidal action; but practically 

 this is impossible, since the solutions would be 

 necessarily so strong that they would be fatal 

 to the patient. The non-professional reader 

 can form little idea of the interest that has 

 been awakened by the discovery of the comma- 

 bacillus. It now forms the chief subject of 

 study in the leading European laboratories, 

 and new developments with regard to it are 

 expected daily. 



Vibriones. These are long, wavy rods, and 

 are found principally in putrefying fluids. 



Spirilla. These are minute spiral bodies, 

 which are found especially in the blood of pa- 

 tients suffering from relapsing fever. They 



SPIRILLUM TENTJE. 



are observed during the paroxysms of fever, 

 but disappear during the non-febrile stages. 



Fungi. The most important of these is the 

 "yeast- fungus," or oidium albicans, found in 

 the " thrush " of infants. 



The question will occur to the reader, " What 

 is the origin of these micro-organisms, and 

 how do they get into the body ? " Doubtless 

 most of them come from the outer world, and 

 are absorbed through the skin, by the aliment- 

 ary tract, and by the respiratory organs. Hav- 

 ing reached a favorable soil within the body, 

 they settle there and multiply. Recent careful 

 experiments have demonstrated the absence ot 

 micro-organisms from the healthy blood and 

 tissues. At the same time it is well known 

 that many of these bodies exist within the hu- 

 man intestine, so that Klein suggests that in 

 certain conditions of the body they may be 

 able to migrate into distant organs. " It can 

 not be maintained," he says, "that if in any 

 focus of disintegration micro-organisms make 

 their appearance, they are derived from those 

 normally present ; we must, on the contrary, 

 believe that putrefactive organisms can be im- 

 ported into parts connected with the outer 

 world from distant localities, in which disor- 

 ganization of tissues has taken place." As 

 regards "specific" organisms, or those that 

 may be positively asserted to be the cause of 

 certain diseases, we can only mention those of 

 anthrax, tuberculosis, find erysipelas (also of 



swine-plague), as satisfying tfite tests previous- 

 ly mentioned. The arguments in favor of their 

 specific nature are : An animal suffering from 

 any of these diseases is always found to con- 

 tain the same kind of organisms. These or- 

 ganisms, when artificially cultivated and intro- 

 duced into other animals, produce the same 

 disease. The period between the time of in- 

 troduction of the organism into the body, and 

 the appearance of definite symptoms, corre- 

 sponds closely to the known period of incu- 

 bation of the disease. This period varies from 

 a few hours to two weeks. Moreover, if only 

 a few of these bodies are introduced, they go 

 on multiplying to an indefinite extent. 



In reply to the query as to whether the 

 micro-organisms themselves are the essential 

 virus of an infectious disease, or in some way 

 generate this virus, two theories are suggested. 

 Either certain chemical changes may be brought 

 about in the tissues by the presence of these 

 bodies, just as in alcoholic fermentation; or 

 the parasites themselves may furnish a poison, 

 which sets up disease. A great deal has been 

 written about antiseptics, and several sub- 

 stances enjoy high favor because of their sup- 

 posed destructive power over disease-germs. In 

 the language of experimental pathology, an 

 antiseptic is " a substance inimical to the life 

 of the micro-organism." According to Kleine, 

 loose statements have been made as to the 

 germicidal power of many drugs. " In order 

 to test the value of an antiseptic," he says, 

 " we must first put the micro-organisms into 

 it, and then take them out and place them in 

 a nourishing medium, and see if they will 

 grow." When this method is adopted, it will 

 be found that some forms, and especially their 

 spores, are not destroyed by very strong solu- 

 tions ; moreover, some varieties of bacteria are 



SACCHAhOMYCES MYCODERMA. 



killed by substances that have no effect upon 

 others. Corrosive sublimate is the most pow- 

 erful germicide, since spores are prevented 

 from developing, by a solution having a strength 

 of only one part in three hundred thousand. 



