54 DARWINISM AND RACE PROGRESS. 



Germs of Phthisis and Scrofula, our Racial Friends. 



During recent years it has been discovered that the 

 symptoms of phthisis and scrofula are due to a 

 microbe, the tubercle bacillus. It appears, however, 

 that this bacillus cannot gain access to, or multiply in, 

 the tissues of a healthy and vigorous man or woman ; 

 most of us probably have often carried this micro-or- 

 ganism within the mouth or stomach, and though our 

 gastric juice has not been able to destroy it, as is the case 

 with so many of our invisible foes, it has been unable 

 to pass into our blood or lacteals. Dr. Woodhead 

 puts this fact strongly. 1 He says : " A perfectly 

 healthy individual, placed under favourable conditions 

 as regards food, fresh air, and exercise, is never 

 attacked successfully by tubercle bacilli, the active, 

 vigorous tissue cells being perfectly able to destroy 

 any bacilli that make their way into the lungs, the 

 pharynx, or the intestine." 



It appears, too, that a certain type of individual is 

 readily attacked by this microbe, while the normal 

 individual, debilitated though he may be by unfavour- 

 able external conditions, falls far less readily a 

 victim. As Prof. Sir Lauder Brunton 2 remarks : 

 " We are constantly meeting with persons belonging 



1 " Bacteria and other Products," p. 230. 



* " Introduction to Modern Therapeutics " (1892), p. 15. 



