PEEFACE. 



In the following pages the author has endeavored 

 to give a rational cause for disease, especially those 

 diseases that are contagious, or those said to be caused 

 by germs. 



He has endeavored to explain, 



First, what a germ is, and its relation to man. 



Second, the various germ theories are presented. 

 These theories are released from all superfluous verbi- 

 age; stripped of their delusive coverings, and left to 

 stand or fall according to their merits. 



Third, and last, there is presented the true medium 

 by which disease is conveyed from one to another, a 

 medium wholly independent of the germ. 



The author is a firm believer in germs, for germs are 

 the means of carrying on the world's economy, the 

 medium through which all material progress has been 

 made; but it would be unreasonable to say that this 

 medium is destructive to man. Yet, by a system of 

 theorizing, the bacteriologists have actually succeeded 

 in establishing in the minds of some a belief that germs 

 are the cause of disease. 



The author believes that all such theories have ema- 

 nated from a hypothesis, an assumed basis which fails 

 to present even a comprehensive guess or a logical sup- 

 position. 



It is easy to frighten people over a case of diphtheria 



