THE STORY OF THE BACTERIA. 91 



ing number of victims. But Europe and Amer- 

 ica are in general free from it, save that now 

 and then coming from its home in the far East 

 it sweeps along the seaboard or over the coun- 

 try, bringing in a greater or less degree the old- 

 time panic and misery and death in its train. 

 Occasionally it finds lodgment upon our own 

 shores and has penetrated into the interior. 



Now up to within a few years we have not 

 known what the cause of this disease really 

 was. It seemed to be something which could be 

 brought in ships and wrapped up in clothing, 

 and was evidently communicable from man to 

 man. Such measures of stopping the spread 

 of the disease by isolating the sick, and such 

 general regulation of the diet and habits as 

 seemed from experience best adapted to pro- 

 tect the well, were formulated and practised. 

 But the utter lack of knowledge as to the exact 

 nature of the contagion frequently rendered 

 futile the one and uncertain the others. 



To-day we know that Asiatic cholera is 

 caused by a little curved bacillus, which on 

 getting into the intestinal canal of human 

 beings multiplies with such rapidity that 



