14 



man, an eminent practitioner of New England, made a 

 tour of our large cities with the benevolent object of in- 

 structing his professional brethren as to the etiology of 

 tuberculosis and of syphilis. He asserted the discovery 

 in the blood of such patients of " germs" not found in 

 other blood ; he exhibited a series of transparencies in 

 which granules the germs were shown in the blood ; 

 he showed a loaf of bread which had been fermented by 

 organisms from the dejections of tuberculous and syphilitic 

 patients. The good work was not limited to the medical 

 profession ; a noted Boston clergyman delivered a Mon- 

 day lecture upon this subject, in which the doctor's blood- 

 granules, projected upon a screen, posed before the con- 

 science-smitten audience as the avengers through whose 

 dread agency the way of the amorous transgressor some- 

 times becomes hard. Only two links were lacking in the 

 chain of evidence ; first, there was not the slightest proof, 

 nor attempt at proof, that the blood-granules were germs ; 

 second, it was unfortunately demonstrated that identical 

 granules were usually found in healthy individuals. 



A few weeks ago the startling discovery was announced 

 that the famous bacillus tuberculosis was a fat-crystal. 

 A distinguished pathologist, failing to detect the ba- 

 cilli in tuberculous tissues, treated his sections with a 

 thirty per cent, solution of caustic potash, whereupon 

 crystals of fat of course appeared. These crystals are al- 

 leged to be identical with the bacilli tuberculosis ; there- 

 fore these organisms exist only in the imagination of be- 

 nighted individuals who blindly follow Koch. 



Now what proof is adduced that the crystals and the 

 alleged bacilli are identical ? Merely that they have the 

 same size and shape. When we remember that the dis- 

 coverer of the crystals had never seen the bacteria in 

 question, we can admit that the former have the same 

 size and shape as the bacilli of Dr. Schmidt's imagina- 

 tion, but not necessarily as the actual organisms. A 

 comparison of the two demonstrates, as Dr. Schmidt 

 has recently learned by personal observation, that they 

 are widely different, even in appearance. But, assum- 



