33 



exhibit any marked symptoms of putrefaction." Indeed, 

 while defective methods may be chiefly employed by the 

 practically inexperienced, most egregious misinterpreta- 

 tion is unfortunately not monopolized by them. Several 

 pioneers in this subject, notably Pasteur and Klebs, have, 

 by the publication of hasty and, as subsequently appeared, 

 erroneous conclusions, forfeited much of the prestige ac- 

 quired by their earlier classical works on fermentation 

 and gunshot wounds respectively. These two observers 

 have ignored successive improvements in technique ; 

 have apparently assumed that all infectious diseases are 

 of bacterial origin ; that therefore the discovery of a 

 bacterium in a diseased animal is ample proof of its pa- 

 thogenetic influence. Years ago, Klebs announced the 

 discovery of the bacterium of tuberculosis, and even 

 declared that the disease could be cured by an agent, 

 benzoate of sodium, which destroys the parasite. With 

 equal facility he discovered the bacterial origin of syphi- 

 lis, typhoid fever, etc. 



Pasteur seems to have a fondness for micrococci, 

 especially in the figure of 8 form, to which he ascribed 

 puerperal fever, rabies, his "nouvelle maladie," as well 

 as chicken cholera, and typhoid fever. His famous 

 publications about the inoculation of chickens with an- 

 thrax, and about the role of earthworms in transporting 

 anthrax spores, further illustrate the inability of his 

 judgment to cope with his imagination. 



