48 MICROBES AND THE MICROBE-KILLER. 



and the changes that the meat underwent in the anti- 

 septic carefully noted down. 



In pure alcohol the meat gradually turned to a yellow- 

 ish color ; in creosote and carbolic acid, black ; in mer- 

 cury diluted one to two hundred per cent it turned to 

 a silvery color, and gradually to black. Whenever I 

 thought I had found what I was searching for, a more 

 careful examination made the following day revealed 

 the fact that the* meat began to shrink or twist, which 

 closed up the pores. This was a warning which gave 

 me to understand that the same process would go on 

 inside of my body if I dared to drink the solution. No 

 disease can be cured unless the system is soaked with 

 the medicine for days, weeks, and perhaps months, ac- 

 cording to the age of the disease. This is shown in pick- 

 ling beef with salt ; we must use enough salt to soak the 

 meat clear through, and if we try to preserve it by 

 smoke we must smoke it clear through. Nothing can 

 be preserved by halves. The whole substance must be 

 preserved. This may be contrary to the teachings of 

 medical science, but it is what Nature teaches every 

 day. 



After I had tried every drug and poison that I could 

 obtain in the manner above described, I learned that 

 there was not a single drug or combination of drugs that 

 would stand the test, namely, stop fermentation in the 

 human body without injury to the system. If any per- 

 son being treated for a chronic disease will take the 

 trouble to test his medicines in a similar way, he will 

 find out soon enough why he fails to recover. 



Failing to find the harmless antiseptic in drugs, I then 

 gave all my attention to the production of gases, in the 

 manner before described in my experiments upon plants, 

 and which had proven so successful with them. For 

 this purpose I selected drugs which were harmless in 

 themselves, although not strictly antiseptic in a crude 

 state. I tried to make them antiseptic by combining the 

 gases in different proportions until an antiseptic gas was 

 formed. After the gas was washed and purified, I again 



