THE STORY OF THE BACTERIA. 85 



The typhoid germ, in the large majority of 

 cases, attacks the body through the intestinal 

 canal. When it gets into the intestines, if in 

 sufficient quantity and the conditions are favor- 

 able, it multiplies, and enormous numbers 

 of the germs are thus produced. Some of 

 these gain access to certain of the other inter- 

 nal organs, but most of them either complete 

 their existence in the intestinal canal, or are 

 cast out in the living condition with the diar- 

 rhceal discharges which so constantly accom- 

 pany this disease. 



It seems most probable, from what we know 

 at present about the action of the typhoid 

 bacilli in this disease, that, as they grow and 

 multiply in the bowels, they produce a soluble 

 poison ptomaine, which is absorbed, just as 

 some kinds of food might be, and carried to 

 various parts of the body, producing effects 

 which we recognize as symptoms of the disease. 

 The bacteria themselves remain, as it would 

 seem, for the most part, in the intestinal canal, 

 to pass off in the discharges. 



The great and important source of infection 

 the means by which the disease is usually 



