92 THE CONTAGIOUS TYPHUS 



But who does not understand that this 

 heroic sacrifice would be illusory, and that the 

 foreign races, modified in time in this new 

 medium, would regenerate the typhus ; so that 

 the double sacrifice of extermination and in- 

 demnity would have been made to no purpose? 



We wish we could adopt this hypothesis, so 

 simple and so consolatory, of the circumscribed 

 origin of the typhus, and its exclusive propa- 

 gation through the race of the steppes ; but 

 our mind is altogether opposed to that view, 

 and for the following reasons, amongst 

 others : 



If the bovine race of the steppes alone 

 could produce the typhic virus, by reason of a 

 particular organization which is the prime 

 condition of its existence, this race alone would 

 of necessity be fit to receive its taint by the 

 influence of contagion. But if the other 

 animals of the same species, as unfortunately 

 too surely happens, can receive the principle 

 of the disorder, develop the ailment, and die 

 of its effects, then the reasoning of our oppo- 

 nents is faulty from its source; and it must 

 be admitted that all horned cattle are apt to 

 generate the typhic virus in those countries 



