BACILLUS ANTHRAX. 61 



whatever as to the character of their physiological activity. 

 As a theory it is very interesting, and is certainly very in- 

 genious, and at the same time quite plausible. It has, how- 

 ever, made but little impression upon the thought of the world, 

 and is now strictly limited to those diseases characterized by 

 new growths of tissue, by a great majority of the prominent 

 thinkers of the profession. 



In the discussion of this subject at the International 

 Congress, this theory, as applied to contagious diseases, was 

 mentioned but once. Dr. Richardson, of London, held views 

 almost identical with those of Dr. Beale. (See American 

 Journal of the Medical Sciences for October, 1875, page 516, 

 for Dr. Richardson's views.) 



Dr. John Bell holds the same views. (See Half-yearly 

 Compendium, January, 1872, page 112.) Also Prof. Crooks 

 and many other important persons ; indeed, this seems to have 

 been the most prevalent view in England during the eighth 

 decade of this century. Lister's success, however, swerved 

 the thought of Englishmen to the theories of Schwan and 

 Pasteur. 



BACILLUS ANTHRAX. 



While the experiments detailed in our last lecture were 

 being carried on mostly in Germany, Pasteur was still busy 

 in France with his flask cultivations. Having demonstrated 

 the nature of the ordinary ferments by pure cultivations 

 (fractional cultivations as they came to be called, the develop- 

 ment of one species out of many), he turned his attention to 

 contagious diseases, and finally hit upon some brilliant re- 

 sults. The most widely known and best proven of these is 

 the isolation of the bacillus anthrax, the contagium of that 

 dread disease which has made such havoc among sheep and 

 cattle in many parts of Europe, and also has been many 

 times epidemic among men with deadly effect. He obtained 



