INTRODUCTION. 23 



before him had done, that bacteria were present in dis- 

 eases following upon the infection of wounds, but 

 described the manner in which the organisms had 

 gained entrance from the point of injury to the internal 

 organs and blood. His opinion was that the spherical 

 and rod-shaped bodies that he saw in the secretions of 

 wounds were closely allied, and gave to them the designa- 

 tion " microsporon septicum." His opinion was that the 

 organisms gained access to the tissues round about the 

 point of injury both by the aid of the wandering leuco- 

 cytes and by being forced through the connective-tissue 

 lymph spaces by the mechanical pressure of muscular 

 contraction. 



On erysipelatous inflammations secondary to injury 

 important investigations were also being made. Wilde, 

 Orth, Von Recklinghausen, Lukomsky, Billroth, Ehr- 

 lich, Fehleisen, and others agreeing that in these condi- 

 tions micro-organisms could always be detected in the 

 lymph channels of the subcutaneous tissues ; and 

 through the work of Oertel, Nassiloff, Classen, Letze- 

 rich, Klebs,- and Eberth the constant presence of 

 bacteria in the diphtheritic deposits at times seen 

 on open wounds was established. Simple and natural 

 as all this may seem to us now, the stage to which the 

 subject had developed when these observations were 

 recorded did not admit of their meeting with uncondi- 

 tional acceptance. The only strong argument in favor 

 of the etiological relation of the organisms that had been 

 seen, in production of the diseases with which they were 

 associated, was the constancy of this association. No 

 efforts had been made to isolate them, and few or none 

 to reproduce the pathological conditions by inoculation. 

 Moreover, not a small number of investigators were 



