xix.] PATHOGENIC ORGANISMS. 183 



alcoholic fermentation of sugar the'alcohol produced is a result 

 of the presence of the saccharomyces ; this is only in so far a 

 product of the organism as this, in its multiplication, assimilates 

 some molecules of carbon and hydrogen, which it abstracts 

 from the sugar, and in consequence of which the sugar yields 

 alcohol ; but it is not, as it were, a secretion of the organism, a 

 special ferment. (>) But it is likewise possible that the 

 organism elaborates a special ferment, which, after a certain 

 amount has been produced, sets up the particular pathological 

 changes. From these considerations it follows that the virus 

 cannot be considered independent of the organism ; we cannot 

 assume that the two can be separated from one another ; for, as 

 we have just now shown, the most feasible assumption, and the 

 one borne out by observation, is that owing to the multiplication 

 of the organisms, certain chemical changes are produced in the 

 blood and tissues, or that a special ferment is created, which 

 sets up the anatomical changes characteristic of the particular 

 disease. 



