27 



tain them, it is in order to inquire first whether he knows 

 how to use the aniline dyes, and second, whether 

 he has the optical means, an Abbe's or similar illumina- 

 tor, necessary to enable him to utilize these staining 

 methods in the detection of bacteria ; if he lack either 

 he is but ill-equipped for public entrance into the arena 

 of original investigations on this subject ; for both are 

 essential to the development of the histologist into the 

 medical mycologist. 



I have thus endeavored, Mr. President, to sketch the 

 principles involved in the study of bacteria, in order that 

 we may on subsequent occasions form a somewhat ac- 

 curate and intelligent estimate of the evidence already 

 adduced as to the relations of these minute beings to 

 various morbid conditions of the human subject. If the 

 effort to convey the facts has been successful, you will 

 agree that an original contribution to this evidence de- 

 mands serious consideration only when it evinces, on the 

 part of its author, not simply skill and experience as a 

 microscopist and histologist, but also a practical ac- 

 quaintance with and employment of the special methods 

 and manipulations necessary for the recognition and cul- 

 tivation of bacteria. Medical mycology has become a 

 special department of investigation, comprising most del- 

 icate and easily vitiated technical methods, to be ac- 

 quired by special study and experience ; the time has 

 passed when the ability to focus a quarter-inch objective 

 entitled a man to an opinion upon the subject. Medi- 

 cal mycology may not be compared in age or attainments 

 with chemistry ; yet the necessary technique is as deli- 

 cate in the one as in the other ; and there exists there- 

 fore the same necessity for the recognition of individual 

 knowledge, and by consequence of general ignorance of 

 the one subject as of the other. I am led to indulge in 

 these rather commonplace remarks by the observation that 

 there is a more or less prevalent lack of appreciation of 

 the evident facts in the case ; witness the recent discov- 

 ery of the pseudo-bacillus tuberculosis and the comments 

 thereupon in current literature and society meetings. 



