INTRODUCTION. 23 



bacteria present in the wound. He observed also that 

 as the organisms increased in number they could often 

 be found within the bodies of pus corpuscles. His 

 studies of pyaemia led him to the important conclusion 

 that in this condition micro-organisms were always 

 present in the blood. 



Of immense importance to the subject were the in- 

 vestigations of Klebs, made at the Military Hospital 

 at Carlsruhe in 1870-71. He not only saw, as others 

 before him had done, that bacteria were present in dis- 

 eases following upon the infection of wounds, but 

 described the manner in which the organisms had 

 gained entrance from the point of injury to the internal 

 organs and blood. His opinion was that the spherical 

 and rod-shaped bodies that he saw in the secretions of 

 wounds were closely allied, and gave to them the desig- 

 nation " microsporon septicum." His opinion was that 

 the organisms gained access to the tissues round about 

 the point of injury both by the aid of the wandering 

 leucocytes and by being forced through the connective- 

 tissue lymph spaces by the mechanical pressure of mus- 

 cular contraction. 



On erysipelatous inflammations secondary to injury 

 important investigations were also being made, Wilde, 

 Orth, Yon Recklinghausen, Lukomsky, Billroth, Ehr- 

 lich, Fehleisen, and others agreeing that in these condi- 

 tions micro-organisms could always be detected in the 

 lymph channels of the subcutaneous tissues; and 

 through the work of Oertel, Nassiloff, Classen, Letze- 

 rich, Klebs, and Eberth the constant presence of bacteria 

 in the diphtheritic deposits at times seen on open wounds 

 was established. 



Simple and natural as all this may seem to us 



