PART II 



THE INFECTIOUS DISEASES AND THE 

 SPECIFIC MICRO-ORGANISMS 



CHAPTER I 

 SUPPURATION 



SUPPURATION was at one time looked upon as a normal and in- 

 evitable outcome of the majority of wounds, and although bacteria 

 were early observed in the purulent discharges, the insufficiency of 

 information then at hand led to the belief that they were spon- 

 taneously developed there. 



From what has already been said about the evolution of bac- 

 teriology and the biology and distribution of bacteria, the relation- 

 ship existing between bacteria and suppuration, and, indeed, be- 

 tween bacteria and disease in general, is found to be reversed. 

 Instead of being the products of disease, the micro-organisms are 

 the cause. 



Suppuration, while nearly always the result of micro-organismal 

 activity, is not a specific infectious process. 



Being but the expression of tissue irritation arising through strong 

 chemotactic influences, as many bacteria may be associated with it 

 as can bring about the essential conditions. Bacteria with which 

 these qualities are exceptionally marked appear as the common 

 cause of the process; those with which it is less marked, as excep- 

 tional causes. 



The relative frequency with which certain varieties of bacteria 

 are associated with suppuration is shown in the following table 

 from Karlinski:* 



Suppuration in man Streptococci, ^ 45 cases. 



Staphylococci, 144 



Other bacteria, 15 



Suppuration in the lower animals Streptococci, 23 



Staphylococci, 45 



Other bacteria, 15 



Suppuration in birds Streptococci, 1 1 



Staphylococci, 40 



Other bacteria, 20 



Andrewes and Gordon, f after the examination of large numbers 



* "Centralbl. f. Bakt.," etc., 1800, vn, S. 113. 



t " Report of the Local Government Board of Great Britain," Supplement; 

 "Report of the Medical Officers," 1905-06, vol. xxxv, p. 543- 



299 



