Show AN INFANT SCIENCE I 1 ENCk WHAT EXTENT PROGRESS HA hal ato TO BEEN MADE IN bacteriology V A Su summary nary of f what line 11 thin thus var yr Y r keen 1 Arcon lUl 1 I 1 tl he study of alo minute lla cilli I 1 si sll mf different foret tb afi etc UK ile bcd t to ward off din in tha the progress of every science there are necessarily lulls or temporary cessations in the experimental results of In tora tors and this is often owing to tho the dim certain points which of elucidating cu ault lt r seven ven thol though agh they may not be absolutely necessary WT are at it any rate desirable to establish ta blish in order that the science may be brought to a condition of practical al utility thia this has been more especially the case with what hat must still be called the infant science W bacteriology the points most requiring elucidation belong to that section of the subject which relates to the tile investigation of micro para ate sites or d germ s among nil all thedia the different varieties of bacteria we know of and can an cultivate the few comparatively which will grow in the tissues and blood of y living a animals afford the most gratifying tesware research h results the changes they tiring bring abut in lit growing constitute adlea disease e conditions frequently of definite kinds caused by one specific germ the significant cant tact fact that these the se conditions are fro luenell luent ll in the same individual bug has afforded to bacteriologists a key by which have been opened up certain vista in the future of which though still shadowy are progressive in distinctness and find certainty attempts toward ridding the human race of the scourge at of infectious disease have been made so far in several different ways ays the following are six of the methods w which aich have been employed six METHODS L 1 M f Past eurs simple preventive inoculation which consists in administering a minute quantity of an attenuated or mitigated culture of the microbe disease in question this process proem haying the ef effect feet of producing a mild attack of the disease which protects against a future fatal attack 2 the method used by ai M pasteur la rabies hydrophobia by dro phobia consisting in the injection of a mitigated virus into a patient thready attacked by the disease in order to overtake the natural virus acting at all fuu strength by the influence of the miti gated virus this method has only been used so tar far in the case of rabies but ha has s apparently been eminently S theemel the employment of the virus of one comparatively mild disease to protect against a more severe one such na as vaccination with cowpox virus for smallpox inoculations with will cultures of the of erysipelas to era eradicate dacate cancerous formations etc 4 the destruction or poisoning of the bacteria which are acting as the maderies ma teries by the adminis administration trat ion of antiseptics or in the form of drugs internally ter nally or by injection 8 5 the enforcement re of natural means possessed by our systems for combating disease germs this has been attempted in 16 several ways a acting on the theory of that the leucocytes or white blood cor muscles pus pu cles seles engulf bacteria and destroy them by the injection of quantities of the tile blood 0 of o some animal insusceptible to the disease in ques question b It lia ising alsing or lowering the temperature of the body of the animal attacked c alterations of diet climate or sur af d injection of what are known as pha 1 gocpt 0 innovators Inn orators ie I 1 e substances which assabi the leucocytes in their engulfing acron 8 6 cy by the injection of the formed by the bacteria growing in cial dal pure cultures as has been done by koch in the case of tuberculosis RECENT the bacilli of observed d to stop growing after reaching A certain point of growth on blood carum in tubes in a way that could hardly be explained by exhaustion of the nutrient properties of tho the serum the explanation of tah cessation of growth is that the bacilli in grow rowing produce a toxic substance which is inimical to their own life this substance may be dissolved out of the cultures 4 by means of dilute glycerin and the solution lution eo used as an injection for tuberculosis idil ing jug the bacteria within the patients system let us examine the question further with a view to ascertaining why these different methods are nob not complete suc successes cew the expectations formed of kochs injection treatment have been fulfilled and although many deeming seeming cures or at aay any rate many preventions of imminent death h have been brought about by its means it will certainly never be universally adopted in its present form the evidence as far as it goes seems to indicate that Past eurs overtaking treatment in rabies has been almost ideally successful but this cannot yet be definitely aft irined for the reason rea son that in the statistics of rabies an enormous number of undoubted cases must be collected before the arguments ments of Past eurs numerous opponents cai tat be overcome protective inoculation in the case of anthrax which attacks nearly every warm blooded animal may be employed with almost mathematical certainty in the laboratory 3 ct et it Is not mot so easily employed on the commercial or rather agricultural scale I 1 much has been done in this direction but something still seems to be wanting it may be that this is in the principle involved vol ved but it Is more likely to be fou found ni in technical detail indeed it seems pro probable bable that we have arrived at one at least of the various possible methods of protection against infectious disease now loes the tile failure to produce immunity with certainty certainly in tho the case of nonrecurring disease or the failure to cure in the case of dis diseases case 8 which may recur or which are chronic mean that bacteriology will never be of practical use to the human race or docs does it only mean that we have arrived at a condition co of know ledge at which we will Tent remain ilu almost at a standstill until th the F elucidation ci of certain facts puta puts us again on cin the track happily the balance of evi favor of the latter supposition london saturday review |