176 THE INVISIBLE WORLD 



multimillions attack multimillions of the cor- 

 puscles. Then, by their life processes, they pro- 

 duce the poison which causes the disease. But 

 sometimes the infecting germs, owing to relatively 

 more favorable circumstances, multiply into rela- 

 tively greater numbers. These greater numbers 

 attack correspondingly greater numbers of the cor- 

 puscles. The result is a relatively greater amount 

 of the same kind of poison. This poison, as a 

 whole, causes a relatively more fearful and fatal 

 form of the disease. At other times, the infecting 

 germs, owing to relatively less favorable circum- 

 stances, propagate into relatively less numbers, at- 

 tack correspondingly less corpuscles, generate a rel- 

 atively less quantity of the poison, which of course 

 results in the milder form of the disease. 



But why do the paroxysms of this disease, 

 whether in the mild or the severe form, come, 

 sometimes every day, sometimes every other 

 day, at other times every third day, still 

 other times every fourth day? Simply owing 

 to the fact that the paroxysms come at the 

 exact moment when the germ sacs burst and 

 the spores are born; coupled with the other fact 

 that there are four varieties of the infecting germs, 

 each a variety of the same species, and each 

 variety requires its own time for sporulation. The 

 first variety after infection, sporulates every 

 twenty-four hours; therefore the patient, infected 

 by this germ, has the chill, fever and sweating every 

 day. The second variety produces spores only 



