MICROZYMES NOT DISEASE GERMS. 293 



utero. And it is surely more probable that the bac- 

 teria germs were carried to the foetus by the maternal 

 blood and passed through the delicate membranes 

 which separate this from the blood of the foetus, than 

 that they found their way direct to the inner parts of 

 the embryo from the outer air. The former supposi- 

 tion is quite in accordance with what we know con- 

 cerning the passage of disease germs from the mater- 

 nal to the foetal blood in certain cases ; the latter is 

 unsupported by evidence of any kind. 



Indirectly, of course, all bacteria germs are derived 

 from without, but not just prior to their appearance 

 in great multitudes in internal parts of the body, as 

 has been surmised. Bacteria germs less than the 

 nnrWo^ 1 f an mc ^ m diameter can readily gain access 

 to all parts of the organism, and probably remain 

 alive, though quiescent, for a long while. They may 

 be destroyed in vast numbers in the healthy state of 

 the body, though, under certain local changes, the 

 conditions become favourable to their development 

 and multiplication. It has not been proved that these 

 bacteria or their germs, " microzymes," have anything 

 to do either with the condition of health or disea_se, 

 and it has been shown that they do not necessarily 

 give rise to suppuration, inflammation, or other mor- 

 bid change. Nor has any form of fungus germ 

 whatever been proved to produce any contagious 

 fever. The fungous germ theory of disease, as already 

 shown in pp. 78, 236. cannot be sustained unless many 



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