i8o PA THOGENIC BA CTERIA . 



Cornet must be given the credit of having shown that 

 such an idea is untrue, and that tubercle bacilli only 

 exist in the atmospheres frequented by consumptives. 

 His experiments were made by collecting dusts from 

 numerous places streets, sidewalks, houses, rooms, walls, 

 etc. Injecting them into guinea-pigs, whose constant 

 susceptibility to the disease makes them a very delicate 

 reagent for its detection, Cornet showed the bacilli to be 

 present only in the dust with which pulverized sputum 

 was mixed, and found such infectious dust to be most 

 common where the greatest carelessness in respect to 

 cleanliness prevailed. 



Our present knowledge of the life-history of the tubercle 

 bacillus, by showing its indisposition to multiply outside 

 the bodies of animals, the deleterious influence of sun- 

 light upon it, the absence of positive permanent forms, 

 and its sensitivity to temperatures beyond a certain range, 

 confirms all that Cornet has pointed out, and shows us 

 why the expectoration of millions of consumptives has 

 not rendered our atmospheres pestilential. 



As long as tuberculosis exists among men or cattle, it 

 shows that the existing hygienic precautions are insuf- 

 ficient. While not so radical as to suggest the unreason- 

 able isolation of patients and destruction of property once 

 practised in the kingdom of Naples, the author would 

 favor the registration of all tuberculous cases as a means 

 of collecting accurate data concerning their origin, would 

 insist upon domestic sterilization and disinfection, and 

 would have special hospitals for as many, especially of 

 the poorer classes, among whom hygienic measures are 

 almost always opposed, as could be persuaded to occupy 

 them. 



It has already been declared the duty of the physician 

 to use every means in his power to prevent the spread 

 of infection in the households in his care, and no disease 

 is more deserving of attention than this neglected one. 

 Patients should cease to kiss the members of their fam- 



