18 INTRODUCTION. 



of authority, unless the views advanced can be corroborated by the 

 independent work of others. 



In the preparation of this work it has been my principal object 

 to gather from the current medical literature, in compact form, the 

 result of the best work by the ablest men on the various subjects 

 which will be discussed in this book. In all instances in which 

 the opinions of authors and investigators came in conflict it has 

 been my aim to represent their ideas without an effort to harmo- 

 nize them. In the consideration of disputed points, I have not 

 hesitated in stating my own convictions, which were based either 

 upon the results obtained from independent original research, 

 clinical observation, or a careful study of the literature on the 

 subject at my command. Crookshauk's Introduction to Practical 

 Bacteriology, New York, 1887, and Klebs's Lehrbuch der patho- 

 logischen Anatomie, I. Theil, Jena, 1887, are the only text-books I 

 consulted. From these I have freely quoted in the descriptions of 

 the different microorganisms. 



