1 UNIVERSITY ) 



THE STORY OF THE ^S^Sit^^ 97 



one and sometimes another species induces 

 the disease. 



It has been shown that diphtheria, as it oc- 

 curs in children's asylums in New York, may 

 be caused by a streptococcus, which, when it 

 gets into the mucous membranes of the air 

 passages, especially if these are already in an 

 inflamed condition, can produce those local 

 changes which are so well known to accompany 

 this serious disease. 



It has been furthermore shown that these 

 streptococci may remain alive for long periods, 

 when thoroughly dried, as in the dust, and it 

 has been found in the living and virulent con- 

 dition floating in the dust of the air of rooms 

 in which children suffering from diphtheria 

 were confined. It has been found in the 

 mouths of children who had been exposed to 

 the disease, and very soon after some of these 

 children suffered from serious and fatal attacks 

 of diphtheria. This bacterium has been shown 

 to be readily killed by moderately strong solu- 

 tions of carbolic acid and corrosive sublimate. 



It is very well known that if the membranes 

 which are so apt to stop up the air passages in 



