1885.] 



MICKOSCOPICAL JOUHNAL. 



207 



to one inch diameter. A nickel 

 plated drip-pan is fixed to the upper 

 suface of the base. 



* The solid portions of the instru- 

 ment are japanned, while those which 

 come in contact with the hands are 

 highly polished and nickel-plated.' 



Two sizes are made, for $40.00 

 and $47.00. respectively, complete 

 with knife. A still cheaper form of 

 microtome, designated the Student's 

 Microtome, is made by the same 

 company for $32.00. ' 



— o 



On the Precise Relsitioiis of Micro- 



Orgaiiisins I0 Disease and the 



Science of Disinfection.* 



BVCHAS. T. KINGZETT, F. I. C.,F.C. S. 



While the connection of micro- 

 organisms with the chief contagious 

 fevers is, as yet, a matter of pure in- 

 ference, it is impossible, in the face 

 of the results of modern investiga- 

 tions, to deny the intimate relations 

 of micro-organisms to certain other 

 diseases, including puerperal fever, 

 pyjcmia, septicaemia and anthrax of 

 cattle ; but of the nature of the pre- 

 cise relations next to nothing is 

 known. The physiological eflects 

 produced by inoculation experiments 

 can be readily observed, but the 

 physiologist can not lay his hands 

 upon the active principles which 

 cause them. In this connection, I 

 am convinced he can ascertain noth- 

 ing of a final character without the 

 aid of a chemist ; and because this 

 fact seems to me to have been en- 

 tirely neglected in all recent investi- 

 gations, I now beg to direct special 

 attention to this matter, and to indi- 

 cate how far reliance is to be placed 

 upon the germ theory of disease, and 

 the use of disinfectants as controlled by 

 that theory. In the first place, then, I 

 shall endeavor to show that the 

 effects which are witnessed in certain 

 diseases are not caused by micro- 

 organisms, but by chemical sub- 

 stances which are elaborated in or by 

 them by way of secretion, excretion 



* British Medical Journal. 



or otherwise ; and, secondly, I shall 

 show that the methods now com- 

 monly employed by many microscop- 

 ists and physiologists for testing the 

 action of disinfectants are entirely 

 and radically erroneous. 



To demonstrate my views upon 

 the first of these subjects, I will take 

 three well known facts, and consider 

 each very briefly. 



In the report of the Medical Officer 

 of the Privy Council for 1876, there 

 is a description of some carefully 

 conducted and important experi- 

 ments made by Dr. Burden Sander- 

 son, in confirmation of the earlier 

 investigations of Panum. In these 

 experiments a septic solution was 

 prepared by precipitating putrilage 

 with alcohol, re-dissolving the pre- 

 cipitate in water, evaporating the 

 extract to dryness and re-dissolving 

 the dried residue in water. From a 

 series of physiological experiments 

 made with this solution. Panum ar- 

 rived at the conclusion that - there 

 exists in putrid fluid a specific chem- 

 ical body which is soluble in water, 

 and is endowed with the property, 

 when introduced into the circulating 

 blood, of calling into existence that 

 peculiar group of symptoms which 

 are recognized as those of septic in- 

 fection ;' and, to use the words of 

 Mr. Simon in reviewing these re- 

 sults, ' Dr. Sanderson, though ap- 

 parently still supposing that the sep- 

 tic ferment is particulate, seems to 

 regard, as proven by Prof. Panum's 

 experiments, as well as approximate- 

 ly by his own, that it " does not con- 

 sist of living organisms." ' It has 

 been proved then that micro-organ- 

 isms, in course of putrefactive fer- 

 mentation, initiated by them, pro- 

 duce one or more chemical products, 

 which act as specific poisons and as 

 infectants in pyaemia, septicaemia, 

 etc. 



The attenuation of the virus of 

 chicken-cholera, which has been de- 

 scribed by Pasteur, admits only of a 

 chemical explanation. How can it 

 be explained that micro-organisms. 



