CHAPTER IX. 



CONCLUSION. 



THE MICROBIAN THEORY COMPARED WITH OTHER 

 THEORIES PUT FORWARD TO EXPLAIN THE 

 ORIGIN OF CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. 



THE parasitic theory of diseases is far from being 

 generally adopted by medical men ; at this very time 

 the theory is actively opposed by medical practitioners 

 of high standing, who are advocates of the theory of 

 the innate character of diseases. In their opinion, the 

 disease is spontaneously developed in the patient, or, 

 at any rate, under the influence of a contagion of 

 which the nature is still unknown. They consider that 

 it is only a secondary complication when microbes are 

 found in the blood, and that these microbes are not 

 the cause of the disease, nor even the contagious 

 element, nor the vehicle of contagion. In a word, 

 the microbian theory is in their eyes a purely gratuitous 

 hypothesis. 



Admitting with them that the microbian theory is 



