CONCLUSION. 297 



in Asiatic cholera. These are undoubtedly microbe 

 diseases in every sense of the term. 



The opposition which the microbian theory 

 encounters in pathology is not new, and need not 

 surprise us. In all ages medicine has clung to its old 

 traditions, and has been unwilling to renounce the 

 habit of regarding disease as something mysterious, 

 just as in the times of ancient magic, of which our 

 modern seers and sorcerers are a relic. The parasitic 

 theory is too simple and natural to be accepted without 

 a struggle, but its earlier achievements are a good 

 omen for the future. We need scarcely remind our 

 readers that at the beginning of this century the 

 parasitic theory of itch encountered the same opposi- 

 tion, yet no physician now doubts that Sarcoptes 

 scabiei is the sole cause of the disease. Somewhat 

 later, towards the middle of the century, when the 

 presence of special microphyta was ascertained in 

 most skin-diseases, the importance of this discovery 

 was denied; yet few physicians will now dispute 

 that these microphyta are the chief, or rather the 

 sole cause of these diseases. 



So, again, in anthrax, when we observe the blood 

 and all the organs filled with bacteridia (Bacillus 

 anthracis), it can hardly be denied that this disease 

 is essentially parasitic. Since these bacteridia are 

 living beings which grow, are reproduced, and breed 

 with great energy, it must be admitted that their 

 presence constitutes an immediate danger, especially 



