CONCLUSION. 297 
in Asiatic cholera. These are undoubtedly microbe 
diseases in every sense of the term. 
The opposition which the microbian theory 
encounters in pathology is not new, and need not 
surprise us. In all ages medicine has clung to its old 
traditions, and has been unwilling to renounce the 
habit of regarding disease as something mysterious, 
just as in the times of ancient magic, of which our 
modern seers and sorcerers are a relic. The parasitic 
theory is too simple and natural to be accepted without 
a struggle, but its earlier achievements are a good 
omen for the future. We need scarcely remind our 
readers that at the beginning of this century the 
parasitic theory of itch encountered the same opposi- 
tion, yet no physician now doubts that Sarcoptes 
scabiet is the sole cause of the disease. Somewhat 
later, towards the middle of the century, when the 
presence of special microphyta was ascertained in 
most skin-diseases, the importance of this discovery 
was denied; yet few physicians will now dispute 
that these microphyta are the chief, or rather the 
sole cause of these diseases. 
So, again, in anthrax, when we observe the blood 
and all the organs filled with bacteridia (Bacillus 
anthracis), it can hardly be denied that this disease 
is essentially parasitic. Since these bacteridia are 
living beings which grow, are reproduced, and breed 
with great energy, it must be admitted that their 
presence constitutes an immediate danger, especially 
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