for the year 1871. li 



remarkable instances of the effect of the absence of this "air 

 dirt " in retarding decay and putrefaction. . He tells us of a 

 method of vaccination adopted by a Mr. Ellis, which is likely 

 to be a great improvement on the old mode. He forms a 

 little bleb, or blister, with cantharidin, and having pricked 

 this, he lets out the drop of fluid and inserts his vaccine 

 point ; after a minute he withdraws it, and the epidermis falF 

 back on the skin, excluding the air and its germs. From 

 the results of hundreds of cases it appears this method avoids 

 most of the troubles incident upon ordinary vaccination, 

 especially secondary abscess. Mr. Ellis attributes the com- 

 parative safety of his method chiefly to the exclusion of the 

 air and what it contains. 



Professor Tyndall is strong in his conviction that many of 

 these germs are disease seeds, and that most contagious 

 diseases are spread by their own special seeds wafted in the 

 air. He says : " It is not on bad air or foul drains that the 

 attention of the physician will primarily be fixed, but upon 

 disease germs, which no bad air or foul drains can create, but 

 which may be pushed by foul air into virulent energy of 

 reproduction. You may think I am treading on dangerous 

 ground — that I am putting forth views that may interfere 

 with salutary practice. No such thing. If you wish to learn 

 the impotence of medical science and practice in dealing with 

 contagious diseases, you have only to refer to a recent Har- 

 veian oration, by Dr. Gully. Such diseases defy the physician 

 — they must burn themselves out." Professor Tyndall's 

 views are shared by many scientific men, both medical and 

 others, and are strongly advanced by some of the most 

 eminent physicians and surgeons. 



The most successful surgical treatment is that where 

 exclusion of air and destruction of germs are carefully attended 

 to ; and more perfect methods of accomplishing these will 

 be undoubtedly attended with equivalent good results, 



E 2 



