Dkoembke 26, 1902.] 



SCIENCE. 



1009 



aud by what procedure their evil activities 

 may be nullified. Persistent and devoted 

 research has already thrown much light 

 on these problems, yet so much is still ob- 

 scure that it is difficult to generalize from 

 our present knowledge. The germs find 

 lodgment in appropriate places, and pro- 

 ceed to grow and multiply, feeding upon 

 the nutrient substance of their host. In 

 certain diseases, if not in all, their activi- 

 ties result in the production of specific 

 poisonous substances called toxins, which, 

 being eliminated from the bacterial cells, 

 pass into the cells of the host and there 

 exert their poisonous efliects. These ef- 

 fects vary in detail with the species of 

 bacterimn; and thus the individual, suf- 

 fering from the behavior of his unwonted 

 guests, exhibits the specific symptoms of 

 the disease. 



Preventive Medicine. — In looking over 

 the history of the search for a means of 

 cure, one is struck by the great value of 

 the ounce of prevention. Keeping the 

 germs out is in every way preferable to 

 dealing with them after they have once 

 entered the body. This fact scientific 

 medicine is impressing more and more 

 deeply on the minds of public authorities 

 and the people, and their response in the 

 form of provisions for improved public 

 and private sanitation is one of the strik- 

 ing features of the social progress of the 

 present time. All the more enlightened 

 nations, states and cities of the world 

 possess organized departments of health, 

 which, with varying degrees of thorough- 

 ness, deal with the problems presented by 

 the infectious diseases, in the light of the 

 latest discoveries. Water and milk and 

 other foods are tested for the presence of 

 disease germs; cases of disease are quar- 

 antined; and innumerable provisions, un- 

 thought of fifty years ago, are now prac- 

 tised daily for the maintenance of the 

 health of the people. 



In the city of New York the Department 

 of Health now undertakes, free of charge, 

 examinations for the diagnosis of malaria, 

 diphtheria, tuberculosis, typhoid fever and 

 rabies. It treats all cases of rabies by the 

 Pasteur method free of charge, and it sup- 

 plies, at slight cost, diphtheria antitoxin 

 and vaccine virus, besides mallein to aid 

 in the diagnosis of glanders in horses, and 

 tuberculin for similar use with suspected 

 tuberculosis in cattle. Moreover, from 

 time to time it issues circulars, intended 

 for the education of physicians regarding 

 the causation of infectious diseases and the 

 newest methods of treatment ; and through 

 its officers and other physicians and by 

 means of printed matter it endeavors to 

 educate the people in matters of private 

 sanitation. It requires official notification 

 by public institutions and physicians of 

 all cases, not only of the epidemic diseases, 

 but even of tuberculosis. The benefits de- 

 rived from these various prophylactic 

 measures are seen in great decrease in 

 mortality from the diseases in question. 

 Much good is expected from the work of 

 the newly organized Committee on the 

 Prevention of Tuberculosis of the Charity 

 Organization Society of New York, which, 

 backed by financial resources, is about to 

 undertake an active campaigTi to lower the 

 death rate from this particular disease, 

 and to lessen the suffering and distress at- 

 tributable to it. 



Fifty years ago the term preventive 

 medicine was unknown. To-day it repre- 

 sents a great body of well-attested and 

 accepted principles. It has cleaned our 

 streets, it has helped to build our model 

 tenements, it has purified our food and 

 our drinking water, it has entered our 

 homes and kept away disease, it has pro- 

 longed our lives, and it has made the world 

 a sweeter place in which to live. 



Serum Therapy. — But if the ounce of 

 prevention has not been applied or has 



