FERMENTATION. 289 



the father in the coffin, the mother in the sick-bed in 

 muttering delirium, and nothing to relieve the desola- 

 tion of the children but the devotion of some poor 

 neighbour, who in too many cases paid the penalty of 

 her kindness in becoming herself the victim of the 

 same disorder!' From the vantage ground already 

 won I look forward with confident hope to the triumph 

 of medical art over scenes of misery like that here de- 

 scribed. The cause of the calamity being once clearly 

 revealed, not only to the physician, but to the public, 

 whose intelligent co-operation is absolutely essential to 

 success, the final victory of humanity is only a question 

 of time. We have already a foretaste of that victory in 

 the triumphs of surgery as practised at your doors. 



