THE FUNGOID ORIGIN OF DISEASE, ETC. 813 
the microzymes and sporules of fungi which he found in the 
fluids of persons affected with cholera caused the disease and 
explained its contagious nature, is finally disposed of. This 
vexed question, one of no small importance to the public, and 
of great interest to the medical profession, receives at the 
hands of Dr. Sanderson, the writer of this part of the report, 
all the care and attention it really deserves. His experi- 
ments and investigations fully bear out all I have stated on 
this subject, and conclusively show that neither bacteria nor 
microzymes are concerned in the production of any specific 
form of disease in the living animal body, and therefore when 
found must be looked upon as an indication of a putrefac- 
tive process occurring after death. A drop of water, a glass 
slide, or even a finger coming into contact with a fluid or 
tissue under examination, is quite sufficient to cause the de- 
velopment of either bacteria or microzymes, in an incredibly 
short space of time. In this way a disturbing element is in- 
troduced which mars and mystifies the most carefully made 
investigations of the histologist. 
Admitting that the spores of fungi are always present in 
the atmosphere, although at some periods not in very great 
multitudes, it by no means follows, nor can it be shown that 
they are the cause of any specific form of disease. And, if it 
be true that so slight a contamination as that spoken of by 
Dr. Sanderson when brought into contact with a fluid is suf- 
ficient to change its character and start organic germs into 
life, then experiments said to prove that living matter can 
begin de novo in solutions subjected to long boiling must be 
accepted with extreme caution. For who can undertake to 
say with any degree of certainty that the breaking of a 
beaker, in which a vacuum has been produced, can be con- 
ducted with sufficient care to prevent the possibility of a rush 
of air, carrying with it some organic particles, which shall 
contaminate or impregnate the whole ? This, a point of the 
utmost importance, has not received much attention, although 
it is sufficient to embarrass and confound the results arrived 
at in the investigations of Dr. Bastian. 
The ingenious way in which it is sought to explain expe- 
riments made by submitting a solution to a temperature of 
160° F., alleged to be sufficient to destroy all evidence of life, 
while in another subjected to a much greater heat, ranging 
from 260° to 302° F., living creatures have reappeared, is by 
no means satisfactory. This admits of a different explana- 
tion, which will at once suggest itself to those who have 
thought over the phenomenon. Neither does it prove that 
because the elements of non-living matter are known to group 
