84 VEGETABLE GERM THEORY. 



Will, then, the advocates of the vegetable germ 

 theory of disease maintain that this view ought to be 

 accepted simply because, in some of the discharges 

 and fluids of diseased animals or man, vegetable 

 germs are to be found, in face of the fact that similar 

 germs are to be detected in all sorts of harmless 

 animal fluids and even in foods which are taken and 

 digested? As soon as fungi have developed them- 

 selves freely in animal fluids possessing special con- 

 tagious properties, such as vaccine lymph, or small- 

 pox lymph, the specific characters of the poison be- 

 come weak or disappear. This seems to negative the 

 view under consideration. In answer it might be 

 urged that, " because a few vegetable organisms ex- 

 cite the disease, it does not therefore follow that a 

 multitude should be more potent, rather the con- 

 trary ; for a few might retain their vitality and propa- 

 gate themselves, while, if a great number were present, 

 the pabulum necessary for their activity would be in- 

 sufficient, and all would perish ! " The advocates 

 of the theory may be permitted to enjoy any ad- 

 vantage that can be derived from this sort of argu- 

 ment ; for, however cleverly it may be put forward, 

 most people who know the facts of the case will be 

 of opinion that the vegetable organisms when present 

 are but accidental concomitants, and that a potent 

 poison, not of the nature of a vegetable germ, is pre- 

 sent in the animal fluid or solid in which the contagious 

 properties are known to reside. 



