AND ITS RELATION TO ANIMAL LIFE 21 



This suggestion seems to be an impossi- 

 bility, brought forward to support a bad case, 

 because it has been proved over and over 

 again that iron is fatal to all fungi, conse- 

 quently it is unreasonable to suggest that 

 bacteria would attack a perfectly healthy 

 animal, and destroy the blood containing a 

 constituent which was a poison to them. 



Secondly, if bacteria could attack all alike, 

 the natural conclusion would be that it would 

 not be long before these fungi would have 

 destroyed all higher forms of life off the face 

 of the earth. 



That such is not the case, however, is proved 

 by the fact that the majority of the doctors 

 and nurses in consumptive hospitals always 

 remain immune to this disease. 



Further, it has been proved that where 

 animals can obtain iron, they are much more 

 immune to bacterial disease than in places 

 where iron is wanting, from which we can only 

 conclude that the presence of iron, in the blood 

 enables animal life to withstand the attacks 

 of these bacteria, and as a corollary that the 

 bacteria do not produce the deficiency, a con- 

 clusion which is further confirmed by the fact 



