MICROBES ANI) CONTAGIOUS DISEASES. 
355 
at times produce normal cells, to replace those that die bj the 
natural wear of organs, and again give birth to other cells, dis¬ 
eased and dangerous, either by their excess in number, as in pur 
ulent infection, or by their special nature, as in cancer and tuber¬ 
cle. But let Mr. Robin speak: “ The cause of morbid troubles 
is due to changes that take place in the quantity and nature of 
the immediate principles of the true substance of tissues and 
humors. These are the alterations which render possible the growth 
of spores of very small size. The multiplication of microscopical 
vegetables is an epiphenomenon, and not the producing or even 
scientific cause. The presence of the vegetal parasite is a com¬ 
plication mistaken for a cause.”* 
This was written some thirty years ago, and one may be allowed 
to ask if the immense progress made since that period has not 
modified this opinion of the author ? Has Mr. Jousset de Bel- 
lestne, then, any right to nse and interpret it, as he does, as fol¬ 
lows : “ The microbe, when it really exists, is only an epiphe¬ 
nomenon, and it would not be saying too much in stating that no 
new element intervenes in variola, nor in scarlatina or tubercu¬ 
losis, but that in these cases there are only exaggerated prolifera¬ 
tions of normal elements , which , under the influence of condi¬ 
tions entirely obscure, develop themselves in an entirely uncom¬ 
mon manner.” ****** 
The definition given by this gentleman is not that of conta¬ 
gious diseases, but on the contrary, that of diseases which have 
been classified under the vulgar and general name of cancers. 
Does he assimilate these diseases together ? This assimilation is 
impossible; every one knows that cancer is not contagious ; this 
single fact puts an abyss between the two kinds of diseases. 
Cancer is not only neither contagious nor inoculable, but is 
hereditary in only about one case out of ten. The contrary is the 
fact for tuberculosis, a contagious disease, because it is a microbian 
disease, and may be said to be hereditary in nine out of ten cases. 
The theory of Mr. Jousset de Bellesme, consequently, ex¬ 
plains nothing and avoids the question ; saying nothing of the 
* Natural History of the Vegetal Parasites of Man, 1884. 
