IN THE CAPILLARY VESSELS. 



173 



other. By the first, because they think that medical 

 practice affords occupation enough for one man ; by 

 the last, on the ground that scientific work unfits a man 

 for the practical duties. It has too often happened that 

 the very few who have devoted themselves to real 

 medical enquiry, have been unfairly treated, and by 

 the very persons who ought to have afforded them 

 support. The time has now arrived when the incen- 

 tives to this course should be openly condemned, 

 as resulting from narrow ancient prejudice, which 

 has long survived its allotted term. Every intelli- 

 gent person will do his utmost to further those 

 branches of investigation which have already ex- 

 erted so great an influence upon the discovery of 

 the wonderful changes which occur in man's body 

 in health and disease, and therefore upon the pro- 

 gress of medicine. 



Of the Presence of the Germs in the Capillaries. 

 In every form of contagious disease, and during every 

 period of its existence, the circulation through the 

 capillaries is affected ; indeed, the essential phenomena 

 of each special malady are due to changes in the 

 quantity and quality of the contents of the capillary 

 vessels. If recovery from the malady is rapid and 

 complete, the capillary changes induced by the disease 

 have been slight. If the disease terminates in death, 

 the fatal result is occasioned by irreparable damage in 

 and around the capillary vessels themselves, or it is 

 occasioned by secondary changes in the tissues induced 



