THE BACTERIA IN CONTAGIOUS MALADIES. 167 



proceedings based upon the idea of an infection of 

 the entire organism, are placed the local treatment 

 destined to destroy the bacteria at their point 

 of entry : thesfe are, caustic potash, sublimate, the 

 paste of Canqouin, the hot iron. These two cate- 

 gories of means employed sometimes alone, some- 

 times simultaneously, show that the idea of the 

 clinicians has always been the destruction of an 

 infectious organism. 



Variola. — The partisans of the parasitic na- 

 ture of variola may be divided into two groups : 

 1. Those who, with Coze and Peltz, attribute 

 the virulence to a Bacterium; 2. Those who, 

 with Luginbiihl and Weigert, attribute it to a 

 Micrococcus. Coze and Feltz have indeed dis- 

 covered Bacteria in the blood Of variola, and this 

 blood injected into the veins of a rabbit has given 

 it a mortal malady, which these observers consider 

 variola. But Chauveau has shown that the af- 

 fection which proved fatal to the subjects of the 

 experiment was not and could not be variola. 

 Another objection is that Bacteria are not found 

 in all those who suffer from variola. However, 

 Coze and Feltz and Baudouin affirm that there 

 are in variolous blood numerous rods, of which the 

 appearance is similar to that of Bacterium bacillus 

 and Bacterium iermo of Miiller. These elements 

 do not at all resemble those found in other infec- 

 tions, and when inoculated possess the power of 

 reproducing variola. 



As to the Micrococcus of variola, they have 



