MASTERING THE MICROBE 



Leaving aside doubtful cases, some of the germs 

 actually recognizable under the microscope at the 

 present stage of bacteriological science are those 

 causing such widely varying diseases as typhoid fever, 

 diphtheria, tetanus, pneumonia, tuberculosis, influ- 

 enza, blood poisoning, malaria, syphilis, boils, acne, 

 suppuration of wounds, plague, cholera, cerebro 

 spinal meningitis, dysentery, Malta fever, common 

 colds, Riggs disease, anthrax, glanders, sleeping sick- 

 ness, and rabies. 



Such a list suggests that the possible range of 

 application of a method aimed directly against in- 

 fectious bacteria is almost limitless. The most obvious 

 application is to cases of localized infections, such as 

 boils, ulcers, and infective inflammation of the lungs, 

 the heart, the kidneys, or of the marrow of the bones. 

 Here the local tissues may not be able to produce 

 anti-bodies rapidly enough to overmaster the invad- 

 ing bacteria, which multiply with astonishing rapidi- 

 ty; and in that event the diseased condition may 

 become chronic. Often there is in effect a drawn 

 battle, in that the tissues manage to keep the infec- 

 tion from spreading beyond a certain area, yet cannot 

 wholly banish the invaders from the system. 



In such a case, the theory of vaccine treatment, 

 as practiced by Wright and his followers, is to call 

 up reinforcements from outlying regions of the body. 

 Here is a case, let us say, in which colonies of bacteria 

 have found lodgment on the mucous membrane lining 

 the heart, causing an inflammation technically known 

 as malignant endocarditis one of the most intract- 

 able and deadly of maladies. The local tissues re- 

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