180 THE INVISIBLE WORLD 



drop of the patient's blood contains a large number 

 of the germs. By their life processes the germs 

 generate the poison which produces the fever. At 

 the end of the seven days, when the fever disappears 

 and the pulse drops to normal, not one microbe 

 is found in the blood. They all have retired to the 

 spleen. That organ is full of them. Here they re- 

 main seven days to produce their spores. The par- 

 ent microbes are apparently sacrificed, sacrificed 

 to beget their young in the form of spores. At the 

 end of the seven days, the spores enter the circula- 

 tion where they speedily become adult microbes. 

 The blood is again full of them, with the relapse of 

 the fever. This dual process of seven days in the 

 blood and seven in the spleen, continues until the 

 end of the disease. 



After spending six months in the Sunny South, 

 migratory birds migrate to the North for nesting 

 and rearing their young. After six months here, 

 young and old, if any, migrate back to the South. 

 Then, in six months, again to the North. So on 

 continually. 



Microbes of the relapsing fever, after spending 

 seven days in the blood, migrate to the spleen for 

 nesting and rearing their spores. At the end of 

 seven days here, in their renewed form, they mi- 

 grate back to the blood. Then again to the spleen, 

 and so on, to the end of the disease. 



In the near future, it is hoped, an antitoxine will 

 be discovered to cure this disease. Meanwhile, good 

 nursing is the best, if not the only, remedy. At its 



