66 MICROBES AND HEALTH. 



examined presented evidence of tubercular lesions, and 

 claimed that ever}- adult is tuberculous. But the 

 strong are able to transform an active lesion into a 

 latent inactive process. 



Bacteriologists claim consumption is caused by a 

 certain specific germ. Yet post-mortem examinations 

 prove that in the great majority of cases, if not all, 

 that germs have been present to the extent of causing 

 cavities in the lungs, yet the patient recovered and died 

 later from other causes. Does the reader suppose that 

 if germs can cause consumption, and if the disease had 

 so far progressed as to cause the characteristic marks 

 in the lungs as rescribed, that the trouble would have 

 stopped here? Certainly not; but, having become 

 master of the situation, the germs would precede to 

 the inevitable ending death of the patient. 



But if we consider the presence of the germ only as 

 the result of the disease merely a result of circum- 

 stances how simple the explanation becomes; how 

 easy to account for their presence. Those who under- 

 stand the nature of these diseases understand that the 

 danger is not from the germs present, but from the 

 virulent poisons in the form of purulent matter and 

 foul gases resulting from the tissue destroyed by dis- 

 ease. 



Take another example; abscess of the liver. This 

 disease is secondary in a more direct sense than the 

 other diseases mentioned. Abscess of the liver usually 

 results from a diseased digestive tract. The return 

 circulation from the digestive tract is first carried di- 

 rect to the liver, and when digestion is poor the cir- 



