88 MAJOR VV. McADAM ECCLES, M.S., M.B., F.R.C.S._, R.A.M.C., ON 



organism. One of the most interesting poisons which makes 

 the action of the phagocytes inefficient is alcohol,and what appears 

 to be a very small amount (0* 1 percent.) of this drug actually in 

 the circulation is sufficient. In a recent official pronounce- 

 ment* the following occurs : — " The relation of alcohol to infective 

 disease is of a somewhat similar kind : the chronic poisoning, by 

 devitalising the tissues, lowers the defences of the body against 

 microbial invasion : consequently, specific germs, such as those 

 which cause pneumonia and tuberculosis, as well as the ordinary 

 microbes of septic inflammation and blood-poisoning, find a 

 suitable soil. A slight general depressing influence — a chill or 

 a local injury — which would have no harmful effect upon a healthy 

 individual, even if the micro-organisms were present, because 

 the vital reaction of the living tissue would prevent a general 

 infection, may be most dangerous to a chronic alcoholic. It 

 has also been suggested that resistance to infective disease may 

 be prejudicially aflected by alcohol when taken in even moderate 

 and occasional doses ; but the experimental researches by which 

 it has been sought to establish this view have not given any clear 

 results. On the other hand, there is no evidence for the popular 

 belief which attributes to such doses of alcohol a protective 

 value in cases of exposure to infection." 



Immunity. 



There is another extraordinarily interesting question in relation 

 to the action of organisms in producing disease, and possibly 

 fatal disease in the human being — ^the question of immunity. 

 It is well known that certain animals are immune against the 

 effects of certain pathogenic micro-organisms, while others are 

 not ; that is, an organism which would cause no ill-effects when 

 introduced into the circulation of a horse would kill a man. 

 Immunity is a subject about which little is really known, but the 

 fact that the human being can be rendered immune against 

 pathogenic micro-organisms is one of intense practical importance. 

 Here are some statistics which put this matter very forcibly, 

 especially as they bear upon the present war. In the Napoleonic 

 Wars, just one himdred years ago, the percentage of deaths from 

 disease — mostly preventable disease — was 97, and from death on 

 the battle-field 3. In the South African War there was an average 



* Alcohol : Its Action on the Human Organism. London : H.M. 

 Stationery Office, 1918. 



