IN THE VICTORIAN ERA 27 



microbiens venus du dehors et il imagine les panse- 

 ments antiseptiques. Avec 1'antiseptie commencent 

 les temps nouveaux de la chirurgie." It only re- 

 mains to add that, with the modesty characteristic 

 of a great man, its brilliant author delights in re- 

 peating how any good which he may have been 

 permitted to do he owes entirely to the inspiration 

 which he received from the labours of Louis 

 Pasteur. 



But if the Victorian era has been productive 

 of so many important applications of bacteriology 

 to commerce and medicine, this period has been 

 also fraught with results of the highest moment 

 in the progress of hygiene. 



The terms of intimacy, so to speak, which we 

 have been now able to establish with bacteria has 

 enabled us to discover details of their life and 

 habits which before were shrouded in mystery. 

 Their distribution in air has led to renewed endea- 

 vours on the part of sanitary authorities to procure 

 efficient ventilation in our hospitals and public in- 

 stitutions ; dust has acquired a fresh horror since it 

 has been shown how disease germs may be dis- 

 seminated by its means ; whilst the important part 

 which flies and lice may play in the spread of 

 epidemics has opened up a new field for research, 

 and made us conscious of a fresh source of danger 

 in our daily life. 



