1 66 OF THE PASSAGE OF DISEASE 



slight chinks which exist between the epithelial 

 cells, and gradually make their way into the capillary 

 vessels beneath. 



I have heard that a well-known physicist has said, 

 that if his mouth and nose were protected by a 

 cotton-wool respirator, he would not hesitate to sleep 

 in a bed which had been occupied by a patient 

 suffering from scarlatina. Although we are much in 

 want of information concerning the precise mode of 

 ingress of poison-germs, I trust that so foolish and 

 utterly useless an experiment will not be made. If 

 the experimenter took the disease, the fact would add 

 nothing whatever to our knowledge, while if he 

 escaped scathless, the fact could be more satisfac- 

 torily explained than by attributing it to the efficiency 

 of the vaunted cotton-wool respirator. Germs so 

 minute as those of contagious diseases will find their 

 way into the blood by other channels than the air 

 passages or alimentary canal. The mucous mem- 

 brane of the conjunctiva, covering the front of the 

 eye, is soft and moist and they could easily worm 

 their way between the soft epithelial-cells, and thus 

 reach the blood. They might readily make their 

 way into a hair-follicle, or pass down the tube of a 

 sweat-gland. There are also many passages opening 

 upon the external surface of the body by which such 

 minute living, moving particles might gain access, 

 to the moist tissues, and make their way into the 

 blood 



