62 



THE AMERICAN MONTHLY 



[April, 



lus anthracis, that the germ or bac- 

 teria theory of contagion received a 

 new impetus, which has done much for 

 the elucidation of the whole question. 

 There have always been doubters, 

 however, particularly among English- 

 speaking people, most of whom have 

 been unable to follow the investiga- 

 tions as closely as is necessary to 

 reach sound conclusions ; and now, 

 when Greenfield has shown that the 

 twelfth cultivation of the Bacillus 

 anthracis no longer produces disease, 

 though its morphological character- 

 istics remain the same, there is a renew- 

 ed tendency to doubt the connection of 

 this organism with the contagium. It 

 is not uncommon to see such doubts 

 expressed in very strong terms in 



|i 



cis. Koch was the first to show that af-^ 

 ter the death of the animal, or when re- 

 moved from the body before death, 

 if surrounded by certain conditions 

 of temperature, etc., these rods in- 

 creased in length, and there were 

 formed within them bright, refringent 

 granules, as at b. These granules 

 were afterwards liberated by the dis- 

 integration of the filaments, and then 

 existed in an isolated condition as at 

 c. Finally, the isolated granules, 

 when placed in a fresh cultivation- 

 liquid — like the aqueous humor — 

 sprouted and formed rods such as 

 were originally present in the blood 

 of the sick animal ; the rods would 

 again form filaments, and the fila- 

 ments then break down into granules 



Fig. 16. 



medical and scientific periodicals, 

 and, if I am not mistaken, a similar 

 tendency has been shown even in the 

 editorials of this Journal. Only a 

 few days ago I heard a prominent 

 medical man, in one of our large 

 cities, offer a challenge to the be- 

 lievers in the germ theory, to discuss 

 the reasons for their views in regard 

 to any disease. It seems opportune, 

 therefore, to present the evidences 

 for the faith that is within us, so that 

 all may see that we have a founda- 

 tion clearly and firmly established. 

 With this view I take up the disease 

 known as charbon (anthrax, malig- 

 nant pustule), because it has been 

 more thoroughly investigated than 

 any other contagious disease. 



Since about the year 1850, the pre- 

 sence of rod-like bodies, such as I 

 have figured at a, has been admitted to 

 exist in the blood of the great majori- 

 ty of cases of charbon. By some they 

 were regarded as crystals, but by 

 others they were described as a form 

 of bacterium, called by Davaine, Bac- 

 teridia, and by Cohn, Bacillus anthra- 



as before. The granules were, conse- 

 quently, resting-spores, while the rods 

 were the actively vegetating condi- 

 tion of the organism ; the former 

 were comparatively dormant and 

 might be likened to a grain of corn, 

 which, as we well know, retains its 

 vitality though exposed to great ex- 

 tremes of temperature, though with- 

 drawn from the influence of the sun 

 and air, and even germinates after 

 passing through the entire digestive 

 tract of a large animal like the ox, or 

 after having been buried in ferment- 

 ing manure for a considerable time. 

 The rods, on the other hand, show 

 an active form of life, and may be 

 compared to the growing maize plant, 

 which is so easily destroyed by frost 

 or drought, and to the existence of 

 which the sun and air are so necessary. 

 That is to say, a spore or seed retains 

 its vitality, and is capable of growth 

 and reproduction after having been 

 exposed to conditions which would 

 assuredly destroy the life of the grow- 

 ing plant or fungus. I ask the closest 

 attention to this point, because it is 



