1889-90.] Dr Griffiths on Researches on Micro-Organisms. 257 
Researches on Micro-Organisms, &c. Part III. By Dr A. 
B. Griffiths, P.R.S. (Edin.), F.C.S. (Lond. & Paris), Member 
of the Physico-Chemical Society of St Petersburg, &c. 
(Read March 16, 1889.) 
Dr P. W. Latham, in the Harveian oration at the Royal College 
of Physicians, on October 17, 1888, supported my own researches 
(which have already been published in the Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., 
vol. xiv. pp. 97-106, and vol. xv. pp. 33-63), on the subject of 
“disease germs.” He says: — “We might hope to find that the 
action and growth of the bacilli [of phthisis] might be inhibited by 
certain substances, and then, by injecting these substances into the 
blood, disease might be prevented, or if disease existed it might he 
arrested or cured.” 
These remarks are almost in the same language as those I have 
already had the honour of presenting to the Royal Society of Edin- 
burgh. 
In Part II. of this paper {Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xv. p. 34), 
the following words will he found : — “ The principle of these 
researches is to find some germicidal agent capable of destroying 
the microbes of disease, which have been proved to reside in the 
blood, and are the causes (directly or indirectly) of certain con- 
I tagious diseases. At the same time, an aqueous solution of such an 
agent, while destroying the microbes of disease, must have very 
little or no detrimental action upon the blood. Having found 
such a substance, the rationale is to inject (hypodermically) a 
solution of the microbe-destroyer directly into the blood. By so 
doing, the destruction of the pathogenic organisms in situ would be 
the result.” 
Having once more alluded to the rationale of the proposed method 
of treating those contagious diseases whose microbes reside in the 
blood, we now describe a further series of experiments performed 
on living micro-organisms. 
I. The Alkaloids op Living Microbes. 
The origin of the “ vital ” alkaloids, or those produced by living 
microbes, is not thoroughly understood. They may be the products 
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