208 MICROBES, FERMENTS, AND MOULDS 



to Marseilles and other Mediterranean ports by vessels 

 which have served for the transport of pilgrims, by 

 men, their linen, and other garments. 



It is consequently by the human body and its 

 clothing, or by the water which carries away human 

 fseces or has served for the washing of soiled linen, 

 that the infecting microbes are carried. The air, as 

 it has long been known, need not be taken into 

 account. As early as 1832, it was observed that the 

 wind did not affect the epidemic, which seemed rather 

 to advance like a man travelling by short stages. 



Duclaux's recent researches show that the sun 

 and air attenuate and soon destroy the microbes, and 

 that only dead germs are borne on the air and wind. 

 "In order to retain their virulence unimpaired, the 

 microbes must travel in packages of clothing, in bales 

 of merchandise, or in the close, moist hold of a vessel. 

 In a word, of all agents of sanitation, the sun is at 

 once the most universal, the most economical, and 

 the most active to which the guardians of public 

 and private hygiene can have recourse " (Duclaux). 



Koch has declared that acids in general are the 

 greatest hindrance to the development of the cholera 

 bacillus. In this way, the acid of the gastric j uice 

 is the best safeguard, and many cases of contagion 

 may be explained by the fact that the large quantity 

 of water imbibed has diluted the gastric juice to 

 excess, or else that the source of contagion has 

 rapidly passed through the empty stomach, and 



