Micro- Organisms and their Relation to Disease. 69 



interesting to every member of the Society. At the present 

 time some people seem to thmk that these organisms and 

 consumption can be wholly and for ever expelled from the 

 human race by Dr. Koch's syringe and lymph ; but Dr. Koch 

 has never himself put forward such a claim. He is undoubtedly 

 entitled to much honour for his discovery, and, I will also say, 

 for his warnings concerning its use. It is a remarkable remedy, 

 and also in many cases a remarkable poison. The time is too 

 short to speak dogmatically for or against the remedy ; but 

 many patients undergoing treatment have died, and the time 

 is too short to say definitely that any one case has been per- 

 manently cured. In my opinion Dr. Koch's remedy might 

 come into use with the other earlier means at our disposal, and 

 may have the effect of relieving suffering and prolonging life. 



Professor FitzGerald said: — I have a letter from Dr. Lindsay 

 expressing the same view as Dr. O'Neill's regarding the danger 

 of hasty application of the remedy. 



Judging from analogy, we have a right to expect that it may 

 be possible to attack consumption by some method like inocula- 

 tion. 



With regard to the bacilli supposed to be imported from 

 planetary space, if the rule of diminution of strength of virus by 

 cold is applicable to them they should be perfectly harmless, on 

 account of the extremely low temperatures to which they have 

 been exposed. 



The " vital" theory seems to me merely to restate in very 

 learned language the common opinion that a person who has 

 once had an infectious disease is less liable to the same after- 

 wards. It says that the microbes are like dogs or fighting 

 cocks, which when once beaten will not fight with the victor 

 again ; but that does not sound like an intelligible theory. 



The only intelligible theory I have heard formulated is the 

 *' poison " theory, which says that the products of these bacilli 

 in the system poison the system and poison the bacilli them- 

 selves. 



