THE GERM ORIGIN OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES. 379 



persons who are exposed to, or come in contact with it, and that the Hfe, or germs 

 found present in such cases, are spontaneously generated in the body and are 

 the effect, and not the cause of the contagium. Dr. Bastian, of Germany, and 

 Hughes Bennett, of Great Britain, not only believed this but made many experi- 

 ments with various animal and vegetable infusions, to prove that life can be 

 started from matter entirely destitute of life, and so conclusive did the experi- 

 ments appear that many were induced to accept the theory as true. But these 

 experiments were shown to be defective, and that the life that swarmed from the 

 infusions, did not come from the inert matter, but from the minute and invisible 

 germs in the air. 



While these views are still entertained by many authorities, they are antago- 

 nized by the ablest scientific men of the world; they have proven from their re- 

 cent discoveries that some of the epidemic, or infectious diseases start from germ 

 life, and so convincingly have they shown this, that perhaps the majority of medi- 

 cal scientists now believe that all of these diseases originate from the same cause, 

 and that no infection can start from matter that is destitute of life. 



It was Schwan, of Berlin, who some years ago discovered that the yeast-plant 

 was a living vegetable germ, and that when plowed in favorable conditions re- 

 produces itself indefinitely, and that if the germ or Ufe in the yeast is destroyed 

 there can be no fermentation ; he also showed that meat exposed for any length 

 of time to an absolutely pure air will not take on putrefaction, but that when 

 exposed to the life that is in the air putrefaction soon follows. 



But the discoveries of M. Pasteur, ol Paris, were the first that aroused gen- 

 eral attention to the subject of germ life. It was in 1865 when he commenced a 

 series of experiments which have culminated in placing his name in the front rank 

 of original investigators. It may not be generally known that the silk culture has 

 for a long time been one of the leading industries of France; in 1853 '^^ produced 

 a revenue of one hundred and thirty million of francs, in 1865 it was reduced to 

 eight million of francs, the cause was supposed to be some disease which affected 

 the silk-worm and finally destroyed it ; large sums of money were offered by the 

 government to any one that could find a remedy that would stop its ravages, but 

 all efforts proved of no avail. Pasteur at this time commenced his work to unravel 

 the mystery. After long study and many experiments he at last discovered with 

 the aid of his microscope, that the cause of the disease was a living parasite; he 

 found that the parasite first attacks the moth, the moth lays the egg which being 

 affected, is transmitted to the now forming silkworm ; he communicated his dis- 

 ' covery to the Academy of Sciences at Paris, and by his careful selection of healthy 

 moths and eggs, this great industry was restored to its former prosperity. Three 

 years before this time his attention had been directed to a disease prevailing in 

 the vineyards of France: the grapes became diseased, and the wine produced from 

 them was so injured as to cause a loss to the country of many millions of dol- 

 lars. He discovered the cause to be a parasite ; after learning this, he found from 

 further experiments that by heating the wine to temperature of 50° C. its purity 

 was fully restored. 



