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T7 TA L MA yjFES TA TlOyS OF LA CTERIA 1
VITAL MANIFESTATIONS OF BACTERIA.
As vital manifestations of bacteria, are to be considered
all
those phenomena which are excited by their presence in the sub-
strata which tlioy inhabit. It is immaterial whether the latter
consist of dead substances, or of living animal or vegetable organ-
isms.
I. Action of Bacteria upon the Living Vegetable
OR Animal Body.
It is a belief of very old date, which found expression in the
writings of Varro as early as the first century B.C., that diseases
of an epidemic character are produced by some invisible living
element, a contaglum vicum, contagium animatwn ; not, however,
until the first quarter of the present century, was this belief
placed on a scientific basis by the celebrated physician and nat-
uralist, Ilufeland. In the year 1835 it received a strong actual
support by the discovery of Bassi that a fatal disease of the silk-
worm (muscardine), was produced h\ a mould-fangus (uotrytis
Bassiana). A few years later do Bary, Kiihn and others, estab-
lished the parasitic nature of a number of diseases in grain, and
in the years 1851 to 1857, Eayer, Brauell, and Pollonder fol-
lowed with the discovery of the anthrax bacillus. From this
time on, the attention of physicians and naturalists has been con-
stantly directed more and more to these low forms of life as the
exciting causes of disease. Micro-organisms Vv'ere found to be
present in various disorders, and finally, within the last few years,
since the introduction of Koch's well-known culture methods,
the parasitic nature of a large number of diseases has been in-
dubitably established.
I will here name only anthrax, relapsing fever, abdominal
typhus, lepra, gonorrhoea, tuberculosis, lupus, cholera, pneumo-
nia, syphilis, malaria, glanders, erysipelas, diphtheria, puerperal
fever, and suppurative processes.
"Wo distinguish bacteria according to their action upon living
pathogenic and (2) non-pathogenic. Pathogenic
bodies, as (1)
are all micro-organisms which, when brought into contact with
any part of a living organism under favorable conditions, multi-
ply and give rise to either local or general disturbances.
T7 TA L MA yjFES TA TlOyS OF LA CTERIA 1
VITAL MANIFESTATIONS OF BACTERIA.
As vital manifestations of bacteria, are to be considered
all
those phenomena which are excited by their presence in the sub-
strata which tlioy inhabit. It is immaterial whether the latter
consist of dead substances, or of living animal or vegetable organ-
isms.
I. Action of Bacteria upon the Living Vegetable
OR Animal Body.
It is a belief of very old date, which found expression in the
writings of Varro as early as the first century B.C., that diseases
of an epidemic character are produced by some invisible living
element, a contaglum vicum, contagium animatwn ; not, however,
until the first quarter of the present century, was this belief
placed on a scientific basis by the celebrated physician and nat-
uralist, Ilufeland. In the year 1835 it received a strong actual
support by the discovery of Bassi that a fatal disease of the silk-
worm (muscardine), was produced h\ a mould-fangus (uotrytis
Bassiana). A few years later do Bary, Kiihn and others, estab-
lished the parasitic nature of a number of diseases in grain, and
in the years 1851 to 1857, Eayer, Brauell, and Pollonder fol-
lowed with the discovery of the anthrax bacillus. From this
time on, the attention of physicians and naturalists has been con-
stantly directed more and more to these low forms of life as the
exciting causes of disease. Micro-organisms Vv'ere found to be
present in various disorders, and finally, within the last few years,
since the introduction of Koch's well-known culture methods,
the parasitic nature of a large number of diseases has been in-
dubitably established.
I will here name only anthrax, relapsing fever, abdominal
typhus, lepra, gonorrhoea, tuberculosis, lupus, cholera, pneumo-
nia, syphilis, malaria, glanders, erysipelas, diphtheria, puerperal
fever, and suppurative processes.
"Wo distinguish bacteria according to their action upon living
pathogenic and (2) non-pathogenic. Pathogenic
bodies, as (1)
are all micro-organisms which, when brought into contact with
any part of a living organism under favorable conditions, multi-
ply and give rise to either local or general disturbances.
