176 AKE CERTAIN EPIDEMIC DISEASES CAUSED BY INFUSORIA? 
new irritant to that already circulating in the blood namely, 
chloroform. This vomiting is often a very serious matter, 
and in three fatal cases appeared to contribute no incon¬ 
siderable share to the disastrous result. It is not influenced 
by any remedies that have been tried j and the plan of treat¬ 
ment that has been found to answer best is to feed the patient 
by the rectum till the sickness ceases, some soothing emollient 
being applied to the epigastrium in the meantime. 
In a few cases, where suppuration was already established, 
carbolic acid was tried as a curative agent, but the results 
were not such as to warrant a repetition of the experiments. 
In cases where confirmed suppuration, with an external vent, 
is already established, the attempt to stop it by active anti¬ 
septic measures seems to be productive of nothing but harm. 
The strong solution of the acid which has to be injected for 
the purpose seems only to irritate the pyogenic membrane, 
and to increase its secretion; the external dressings tend to 
dam up the pus thus formed; the pus has finally to be 
evacuated, and when evacuated is commonly found to be 
fetid. The history of these trials has hitherto been uniformly 
one of failure. 
AKE CERTAIN EPIDEMIC DISEASES CAUSED BY INFUSORIA? 
By M. J. Lemaire. 
The question may be fairly asked : Are such diseases 
as intermittent fevers, typhus, cholera, dysentery, yellow 
fever, and hospital gangrene, distinct species ? The names 
given to these are founded on one of their chief symptoms, 
and appear to me to possess no scientific value, for in 
one of those diseases are found all the symptoms of the 
others collectively. A glance at the synonymy of those 
diseases shows that many authors have rejected those ap¬ 
pellations. Amidst the confusion of names and opinions 
from which they have sprung are found landmarks planted 
by the fathers of medicine, who have indicated the path 
which, in my opinion, must lead to the proof that those dis¬ 
eases form but one species. It has been proved by physicians 
and veterinary surgeons from the time of Hippocrates, that 
wherever an abundance of putrefying matter exists, there 
are produced serious diseases, which are considered b}’’ some 
to be infectious, and by others to be not so. The diseases 
