1 82 PATHOGENIC BACTERIA. 



should not be touched. In my judgment, the body 

 is best disposed of by cremation. 



It seems, however, to be an error to suppose that a 

 dead body can remain for an indefinite period a source of 

 infection. Esmarch ! has made a series of laboratory ex- 

 periments to determine what the fate of pathogenic bac- 

 teria in the dead body really is. From his results it seems 

 clear that in septicemia, cholera, anthrax, malignant 

 edema, tuberculosis, tetanus, and typhoid the pathogenic 

 bacteria all die sooner or later, generally more rapidly in 

 conditions of decomposition than in good preservation of 

 the tissues. Lack of oxygen may be a cause of their 

 disappearance. 



1 Zeitschrift fur Hygiene, 1893. 



