524 Chapter XVI 



sition on the part of certain of our most eminent pathologists, others 

 amongst them have, from the beginning, expressed themselves in more 

 favourable terms. Thus, Virchow 1 , in an introductory article in the 

 101st volume of his Archiv, continued his friendly attitude with 

 regard to the works on phagocytic defence and spoke of them as 

 opening up a new field of research. Ribbert 2 , in a series of publi- 

 cations, maintained the importance of the phagocytes in the resist- 

 ance offered by the animal to the aggression of micro-organisms, 

 and pointed out, especially in connection with the diseases set up 

 by the staphylococci, the frequency of the ingestion of these parasites 

 by the leucocytes. He insists specially on a modification of the 

 phagocytic reaction, which consists in the accumulation of white 

 corpuscles around the centre of microbial infection. In these cases, 

 without the occurrence of any real ingestion of the micro-organisms 

 into the substance of the phagocytes, these organisms may have their 

 morbific manifestation hindered by the assemblage of the white 

 corpuscles. It is needless to insist that this act, which I referred 

 to in my first work in 1883, constitutes the prelude to a true 

 phagocytosis and is closely bound up with this defensive phenomenon. 

 Another pathologist, Hess 3 , supports the theory of phagocytosis by 

 confirmatory researches of great value. 



The pathologists who were adversaries of the phagocytic theory 

 combined their efforts to demolish it, without troubling themselves 

 to replace it by any other theory of defence on the part of the body 

 which might more easily be made to accord with their principles 

 and their statements. Baumgarten certainly tried to prove that 

 micro-organisms perish in cases where immunity is produced or 

 healing occurs, not as the result of the phagocytic reaction or of any 

 other manifestation on the part of the menaced animal, but simply 

 "of themselves" (von selbst), that is to say, they have simply 

 accomplished the normal cycle of their existence and die a natural 

 [548] death, this bringing about healing and immunity. As may be readily 

 understood he was unable to bring forward the slightest evidence 

 of the correctness of this hypothesis, which, I believe, has never been 

 accepted by anyone, nor even been defended by its author. In this 

 respect the attacks directed against the theory of phagocytosis by 

 bacteriologists have been of a very different character. Not content 



Virdtow's Archiv, 1885, Bd. ci, S. 12. 

 Deutsche med. Wchnschr., Leipzig, 1890, S. 690. 

 Virchoufs Archiv, 1887, Bd. cix, S. 365. 



