PART I ] Meaning of the Term. " Micrococczts.''' 29 



remain for weeks unchanged in the fluid in which it was found, showing that the action 

 of the liquid portion of the stool is not so destructive to it as would be inferred if the 

 numberless corpuscles seen were the result of the disintegration of epithelium which had 

 been shed. I think there is no doubt but that these are the " peculiar corpuscles " first 

 described by Dr. Parkes, which probably the circular, " still " condition of the animalculse 

 alluded to in this report, the microscopic appearance and the action of reagents coincide so 

 entirely with the minute description given of them in the author's work. I am as yet not 

 in a position to verify the author's belief that they are confined to any particular stage of 

 the disease. I hope, however, to obtain more exact data on the subject in my next report. 



With respect to the nature or origin of these corpuscles and the fibrillated substance in 

 which they are imbedded, I have not been able to disprove, nor in any way to modify, the 

 views expressed by the writer at the time when he drew attention to them in the following 

 extract, which may appropriately serve as the concluding sentence of this paragraph : — 



" It is in the highest degree probable that they owe their origin to effused blood-plasma, 

 which assumes with great rapidity a low, ill-defined, and non-progressive organization." 



SECTION III.— "MICROCOCCUS." 



The term " micrococcus " {mAkros small, and kokhos kernel) is now pretty generally 

 adopted on the continent by the class of writers who advocate the pre-existence of a 

 GERM, in some shape or other, to every living thing, this germ, which may be infinitely 

 minute, being called its " micrococcus ; " whereas another class of writers, very numerous 

 now in England as well as on the continent, maintain that the pre-existence of a germ 

 is not necessary to the development of living objects, providing certain atmospheric, 

 chemical, physical, and other agencies are present; the nature of the object developed 

 depending on the relative proportion of these agencies or " forces." In short, that life 

 is a creature of circumstances, those circumstances being of an entirely physical nature. 

 The question of the existence or non-existence of a " germ " being of such great im- 

 portance in connection with epidemics and infectious diseases generally, and its investiga- 

 tion associated with so many difficulties, I should have preferred not alluding to the 

 subject of this section at present, not having had time to accumulate sufficient material 

 to enable me even to obtain a clear idea as to what changes take place, much less to 

 attempt passing any opinion concerning those changes. As, however, it might be thought 

 that no attention had been given to this portion of Hallier's theory, — in some respects 

 the most important, and certainly the most difficult to disprove, — a few illustrations 

 will be given of what has been done in the matter. 



As already explained, the micrococcus, or germ of cholera^ is, in the opinion of Hallier, 

 the disintegrated spores of a special fungus, which escaping into water may be swallowed, 

 or after being wafted by the air, adding a trifle to the " dust," according to Professor 

 Tyndall, so prevalent therein, reach the interior of the human body, there to develop at 



