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SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XI. No. 267 



Question 2. Do you regard the theory as of as much importance 

 as is claimed for it by the various doctors and scientists who advo- 

 cate it ? 



With the exceptions noted below^, all of the replies recognize that 

 the subject is one of great importance, this conclusion being in 

 general based on the fact that the germ-theory emphasizes and 

 makes possible a scientific study of preventive medicine. 



The exceptions are as follows : — 



No. 3. " I do not. The adoption of the mere theory as a general 

 proposition does not add any thing to our resources for either 

 curing or preventing disease. Every new fact that becomes clearly 

 and definitely established concerning the existence of a microbe, 

 a ptomaine, or any other material condition accompanying the devel- 

 opment and progress of any disease, is of importance, because each 

 new fact is likely to suggest such investigations as will bring to 

 light other facts until results of importance are obtained. The 

 popular adoption of a general theory of disease has in all ages led 

 to an effort to make all facts conform to the theory, and thereby led 

 to many practical errors." 



No. 5. " Briefly, no." 



No. 7. " No, I do not believe that the bacillus has been proved 

 to be the occasion of disease. May it not be a product .■' Am open 

 to conviction." 



No. 22 says, " Further investigations very desirable. The facts 

 are not all in yet." 



Question 3. Do you think the practical value of the subject is 

 destined to be sufficient to demand a wider and more thorough 

 treatment in our medical schools and training-schools for nurses ? 



To this question a simple or an emphatic affirmative answer was 

 given in all cases where a reply was received, except in the follow- 

 ing instances : — 



No. 3. " I think the subject receives a full share of attention in 

 all the more important medical colleges, hospitals, and training- 

 schools for nurses in the country. Such is certainly the case in the 

 schools in this city, and in the medical societies also." 



No. 5. "No." 



No. 6. " I do not, by any means." 



No. 7. " The whole subject needs to be further investigated and 

 better understood." 



No. 22. "As fast as solid ground is reached. The human mind 

 naturally jumps at conclusions." 



No. 27. " There is nothing as yet very practical about the sub- 

 ject : it is mainly theoretical." 



Question 4. Is it practical to introduce it into a medical course 

 as a branch of pathology ? 



No direct reply to this question has been received from Nos. 2, 

 10, 12, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26. In all of these institutions, however, 

 very special attention is paid to the study of bacteriology, as will be 

 seen in the answers to the next question. 



No. I says, " Yes, but the ideas advanced should be demon- 

 strable." 



No. 3. " Certainly not ; and for the reason that microscopic or- 

 ganisms, so far as they act as causes of disease, belong to the de- 

 partment of etiology instead of pathology, and, if any of them are 

 simply developed as products of disease, they belong to the depart- 

 ment of morbid anatomy." 



No. 5. " No." 



No. 6. " No. It could be disposed of in a few sentences ; but to 

 make the fuss over it that some lunatics do is an abomination in 

 the eyes of the Lord and man." 



No. 7. "Not at present." 



No. 8. " This is a question chiefly of finance and of public appre- 

 ciation of preventive medicine." 



No. II. "I think it not only practical, but necessary to an under- 

 standing of pathology." 



No. 16. " Yes, and it ought to be done, or intimately associated 

 with it, as we have already done in our school." 



No. 27. " Not as a branch of pathology settled, but it is well to 

 treat of the subject so far as science has unfolded." 



All others answer with a simple affirmative. 



Question 5. To what extent does the subject receive attention 



in the medical course of the school with which you are con- 

 nected ? 



The answers to this question are of so much interest, that they 

 are given here in detail. 



No. I. "Not to any great extent, no pathological laboratory 

 work." 



No. 2. " A fully equipped laboratory for bacteriological investiga- 

 tion. A special lecturer is employed to give instruction. In the 

 pathological laboratory attention is given to demonstrations of the 

 presence of bacteria in disease. The subject of ptomaines is taught 

 in the chemical department." 



No. 3. " The subject of micro-organisms receives a full share of 

 attention in the practical laboratories of chemistry, histology, 

 pathology, and a well-equipped bacteriological laboratory, as well 

 as in the teaching of every practical department, both didactic and 

 clinical." 



No. 4. " All the teachers whose branches bear upon it teach it 

 more or less, though not systematically. We have a professorship 

 which includes general pathology, hygiene, and bacteriology'." 



No. 5. "More than deserved." 



No. 6. " In speaking of the causation of disease, it receives due 

 attention." 



No. 7. " Two professors of pathology." 



No. 8. " All of the seven chairs enforce the germ-theory of com- 

 municable disease." 



No. 9. " Special lecturer employed to give instruction on this 

 subject." 



No. 10. " Bacteriological laboratory, and a special instructor in 

 this branch." 



No. II. " A special chair of pathology and bacteriology has re- 

 cently been established, and a well-known scientific worker elected 

 to fill it." 



No. 12. " The pathology which I give in connection with theory 

 and practice, when dealing with infectious diseases, includes bac- 

 teriology ; and I am in the habit of urging the students to investi- 

 gate the field for themselves, as the branch is not thoroughly de- 

 veloped." 



No. 13. "One lecture each in surgery, medicine, obstetrics, and 

 poisons, with four in chair of pathology, and practical microscopical 

 work." 



No. 14. " Interwoven in all the teaching. Lectures on micro- 

 organisms, their life-histories, nature of proof that they cause dis- 

 eases, etc., are given. Different specimens of bacteria are demon- 

 strated." 



No. 15. "Is lectured on and demonstrated by one lecturer on 

 histology, who has one hour a week." 



No. 16. " The subject is largely taught by the professors in sur- 

 gery, theory and practice, materia medica, chemistry, gynecology, 

 pathology, and hygiene." 



No. 17. "A culture laboratory, and the professor devotes consid- 

 erable time to bacteriology." 



No. 18. " Professor of hygiene teaches in his lectures something 

 of the theory of germ-cells and microbes in disease, and the im- 

 portance of care and cleanliness ; also the danger of eating un- 

 cooked or rarely cooked animal food. The professor of anatomy 

 and histology also has given some very instructive discussions in 

 his lectures on the subject." 



No. 19. "A fully equipped bacteriological laboratory. The lab- 

 oratory was furnished directly from Koch's laboratory in Berlin." 



No. 20. " In the early lectures of the yearly course on pathology 

 a full exhibition of the pathogenic forms is made by means of the 

 lantern ; also lectures on the relation of the micro-organisms to 

 each disease. In the laboratory the class examine with the micro- 

 scope the organisms in stained preparations of cultures and sections 

 of tissue, etc. The method of culture-preparation, etc., are shown." 



No. 21. "In the second and third years a good deal of time is 

 spent by the students in the pathological laboratory. Bacteriology 

 forms part of the regular course of instruction. In the department 

 of clinical medicines the bacteriological questions in relation to 

 diagnosis and etiology are fully discussed, and the clinical labora- 

 tory is provided with full means of research in this line." 



No. 22. " Incidentally only." 



No. 23. " Only in an incidental way in connection with infectious- 



