854 
ON THE REAL NATURE OF DISEASE GERMS. 
Many arguments will be advanced herein in favour of the 
view that the virulence of the poison is due entirely to the 
living particles, and not to the fluid in w 7 hich these are sus- 
pended. In the case of some of these poisonous fluids we 
are able to study the production of the contagious virus, and 
we may even in some cases succeed in tracing out the manner 
in which the material with the wonderful poisonous property 
originates. 
In some forms of inflammation of serous membranes the 
process may be made out, and a conception formed of the 
several changes which occur, and at last end in the develop- 
ment of the poison. The morbid change is sometimes 
limited to the effusion of serum and the production of “ in- 
flammatory lymph,” but in other instances the inflammation 
proceeds to a further stage, and actual pus is generated. 
Peritonitis is an example of an inflammation which much 
more frequently proceeds to the formation of pus than in- 
flammation of other serous membranes. The greater vascu- 
larity of the peritoneum as compared with allied textures 
may perhaps account for this fact. It is interesting to discuss 
briefly the characters of the different “inflammatory products,” 
as they are called, resulting from peritoneal inflammation, 
varying in intensity. 
In slight inflammation there is great vascular distension, 
accompanied as in other cases by the escape of exudation in 
which are suspended particles of bioplasm. The exudation 
coagulates upon the surfaces of the serous membrane, perhaps 
glueing them together. The fluid portion is graduall} 7 absorbed, 
and if the case progresses to recovery, much of the coagulated 
matter is also taken up, a little being transformed into fibrous 
tissue, resulting in a few 66 adhesions,” or mere thickening of 
the serous membrane, as the case may be. 
When, however, the intensity of the inflammation is more 
marked, the little particles of bioplasm originally derived 
from the white blood-corpuscles, grow and multiply, and 
with the fibrinous matter in which they are entangled form 
transparent flocculi, which are suspended in the serous part 
of the exudation, or adhere here and there loosely to the 
peritoneal surface. Many of these flocculi are found to con- 
tain multitudes of bioplasm particles, and oftentimes a vast 
number of these are suspended in the fluid, and congregated 
here and there, form little collections upon the surface of the 
delicate serous membrane, to w hich they adhere and w here 
they grow. 
If the inflammatory process still continues, and increases 
in severity, the vascular congestion becomes more marked, 
