CO NT A GIO US D US T. 



5 





indeed no other means of investigation yet discovered 

 which afford equal prospects of success. Moreover, 

 by this method of enquiry important results have been 

 already obtained. It was therefore unfortunate that 

 microscopical investigation should have been con- 

 demned by the authority of a Royal Commission, 

 and the suggestion offered that chemistry was likely 

 to succeed in detecting particles of matter which it is 

 only possible to discern by the aid of very high mag- 

 nifying powers employed with due care. 



Notwithstanding the publicity given to many mere 

 physico-chemical theories and the energetic means 

 taken to force them into popular favour, the view that 

 the poisonous matter of self-propagating (Dr. Budd) 

 diseases, really consists of some kind of living sub- 

 stance (germinal or living matter), has been steadily 

 gaining ground, although it must be admitted that 

 many of the statements which have been made in its 

 favour are of the vaguest and most unsatisfactory 

 description. Thus many persons seem to have adopted 

 the strange notion that dust is made up of disease 

 germs. The harmless ingredients of this material 

 have been spoken of as if they were disease-propa- 

 gating particles of the most terrible kind. The 

 innocent organic fragments detached from our carpets 

 and rugs and dresses and furniture, have been treated 

 as if they were contagious. 



Of those who accept the germ theory of disease, some 

 hold that the living particles which grow and multiply 



