70 THE GERM THEORY OF DISEASE. 



of many other articles of food. It also seems probable, from 

 many observations, that the results of decomposition, as it pro- 

 ceeds to the destruction of nitrogenous compounds, flesh and 

 the like, destroys most disease germs such bodies may contain 

 at the time of death. 



It has been remarked by a considerable number of observers 

 that blood poisoning from dead bodies will occur only before 

 such bodies have proceeded far in the process of decomposi-* 

 tion. It seems that inoculations made with the fluid product 

 of nearly complete decompositions do not produce character- 

 istic blood poisoning. This is very distinctly asserted by Dr. 

 Lionel S. Beale, who regards it as a strong argument in favor 

 of his hypothesis. He supposes that the bioplasts whicli 

 cause disease die during the process of decomposition, which, 

 he thinks, could not be claimed in the case of bacteria. How- 

 ever, the fact that one bacterium is often destroyed in the 

 presence of another, probably by the waste product of the 

 second being poisonous to the first, is now pretty well estab- 

 lished, and fully accounts for the facts observed. Alcohol is 

 the proper food of the mycoderma aceti, but the vinous yeast 

 plant will not thrive in acetic acid. 



There is much reason, now, to suppose that disease germs are 

 less plentiful in the air than was thought a few years ago. It 

 is shown that a multitude of germs that induce decomposition 

 are not even capable of living in the blood or tissues of men 

 or animals when placed in them. The bacterium lactis, which 

 flourishes in milk and in the animal secretions generally, will 

 not grow in the blood or tissues of an animal. Also the bac- 

 terium termo, which is so widely spread, and common in 

 almost every atmosphere, and is now generally considered to 

 be the cause of the ill-smelling putrefactions, will die in the 

 living tissues or blood of an animal. Great numbers of 

 organisms grow in the mouth of almost every individual, and 



