8i 



whose contents were in forty-eight hours telegraphed 

 over the world. Koch's statements are so familiar to all, 

 that detailed repetition would be superfluous ; they may 

 be summarized in the assertion that the active agent in 

 the induction and propagation of tuberculosis is a distinct 

 species of bacterium, a bacillus ; that tuberculosis does 

 not occur without the presence of this organism ; that 

 conversely all those anatomical changes and only those 

 should be called tuberculosis whose point of departure 

 from the normal condition is the presence and vital ac- 

 tivity of this bacillus ; hence, general and local miliary 

 tuberculosis, cheesy pneumonia and bronchitis certainly, 

 fungus-joint granulations, scrofulous inflammation of 

 lymph-glands probably, and the pearl disease of cattle, 

 are etiologically identical. The point of chief interest is of 

 course the assertion that tuberculosis and cheesy pneumo- 

 nia, pulmonary consumption, are caused by the bacillus. 

 The evidence in its favor is first the experimental work 

 of Koch himself, and then the unanimous confirmation 

 of those of his statements which have been already 

 tested. 



His experience with and knowledge of bacteria found 

 in the animal body is by general consent admitted to be 

 excelled by that of no other observer ; his caution and 

 conservatism and the accuracy of his methods are such 

 that, although he has for eight years been constantly 

 working and frequently writing on this subject, he has 

 never as yet been detected in a single error of observa- 

 tion ; his facilities and opportunities in the Imperial Ger- 

 man Health Bureau are unexcelled. The confidence 

 and good will of government and people alike for 

 Koch's is an official position, you know would be de- 

 stroyed by any ill-executed observations, or by any in- 

 judicious and untenable assertions in this, the most im- 

 portant and widely circulated of all his works. That 

 Koch appreciated the situation is shown by his course in 

 the matter : having discovered the bacilli in tuberculous 

 tissue, he did not send an announcement to the Academy 

 of Sciences nor blazon it through the medical press ; he 

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