144 THE GERM THEORY OF DISEASE. 



of pus; and that pus does occur under some conditions in 

 which the presence of inflammation, at any time previous to 

 its formation, is extremely difficult of demonstration. Yet 

 I am of the opinion that there are very few surgeons to-day 

 who do not regard the formation of pus as one of the results 

 of inflammation, and who will not naturally expect the 

 formation of pus to result in case of prolonged and intense 

 inflammatory action. 



Still, the formation of pus does not necessarily occur as a 

 result of every severe inflammatory state; and some recent 

 experiments by M. I. Straus and others, in both France and 

 Germany, seem to show that pus will not form in inflammation 

 artificially excited, if micro-organisms be excluded. Other 

 experimenters have had other results, and the question is not 

 yet settled by the experimental method ; and we might with 

 some reason say that it cannot be so settled, until the methods 

 of experimentation approach more nearly perfection than they 

 seem to be at the present time. 



However, just so long as we regard the formation of pus 

 to be a result of inflammation, must we expect that pus will 

 be formed without the presence of micro-organisms. If this 

 is not the true explanation of this phenomenon, if future 

 developments should demonstrate that these two processes are 

 not related to each other as cause and effect, then it may, 

 possibly, be shown that pus cannot form without the presence 

 of micro-organisms. 



At the same time it must be admitted that the formation of 

 pus is generally accompanied by the development of micro- 

 organisms, and that their presence facilitates pus formation. 

 This is clearly the result, not of temporary, or a single appli- 

 cation of an irritant, but of the continuous irritation by the 

 secretion or excretion continuously given out by the organ- 

 isms ; and we have no reason, that I know of, to suppose that 

 the result would be much different if the same products of 



