CURING BY COMBATING THE CAUSE. 28 1 



centration of i : 500-800 it checks the move- 

 ments not only of malarial parasites, but also, 

 according to Koch, hinders the development of 

 anthrax bacilli, and according to Moczutkow- 

 sky, that of the spirillum of relapsing fever, 

 notwithstanding the fact that it does not pos- 

 sess the same specific effect when administered 

 in these latter diseases as in malaria. It must 

 be kept in mind also that the amount of quin- 

 ine which must be added to a drop of blood in 

 order to destroy the malarial parasite has no 

 special bearing upon the cure of malarial fever. 

 The cure of malaria in man, even when large 

 doses of quinine are given, is accomplished with 

 a quantity of the drug so slight that in experi- 

 ment it is not sufficient to bring about the 

 paralysis or death of the disease germ. 



The question may well be asked, therefore, 

 whether quinine is not efficacious in quite a 

 different way from that commonly supposed, 

 since it neither paralyzes nor kills the parasite. 

 The latter effect would demand relatively large 

 quantities ; the cure of malaria can be brought 

 about by small quantities. Now we know that 

 small quantities of a chemical substance can 

 act in a very different way from large quan- 

 tities. Paracelsus long ago supposed that 

 curatives arcana, he called them include 

 substances that destroy the " seed " of disease, 



