,transcriber's note3 ,a few typographical errors have been corrected3 they are listed at the end of the text4 99 99 99 99 99 ,page numbers enclosed by curly braces 7example3 #be7 have been incorporated to facilitate the use of the ,table of ,contents4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,epidemics ,,examined ,,and ,,explained3 ,,or1 ,,living ,,germs ,,proved ,,by ,,analogy ,,to ,,be ,a ,,source ,,of ,,disease4 ,,by ,,john ,,grove1 ,m4,r4,c4,s4,l4 ,,author ,,of ,,sulphur ,,as ,a ,,remedy ,,in ,,epidemic ,,cholera4 ,,london3 ,,james ,,ridgway1 ,,piccadilly4 ,,mdcccl4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the tendencies of the mind1 the turn of thought of whole ages1 have frequently depended on prevailing diseases2 for nothing exercises a more potent influence over man1 either in disposing him to calmness and submission1 or in kindling in him the wildest passions1 than the proximity of inevitable and universal danger4--,hecker's ,epidemics of the ,middle ,ages4 ,the grand field of investigation lies immediately before us2 we are trampling every hour upon things which to the ignorant seem nothing but dirt1 but to the curious are precious as gold4--,sewell on the ,cultivation of the ,intellect4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,to ,,benjamin ,,guy ,,babington1 ,f4,r4,s41 ,m4,d41 ,,physician ,,to ,,guy',s ,,hospital1 ,,and ,,president ,,of ,,the ,,epidemiological ,,society1 ,,etc4 ,,etc4 ,,these ,,pages ,,are1 ,,by ,,his ,,kind ,,permission1 ,respectfully ,dedicated1 ,,by ,,his ,,obliged ,,and ,,faithful ,,servant1 ,,the ,,author4 99 99 99 99 99 v ,,preface4 ,the following pages have been written with a view to render some aid in establishing a sound and firm basis for future research1 on that absorbing topic1 the ,causes and ,nature of ,epidemic ,diseases4 ,the amount of information already published on ,fevers1 on the ,exanthemata1 and on the ,plague1 is truly astonishing1 and the more so when it is considered1 that at present no rational account or explanation is given of the causes of these affections4 ,it appears to me but reasonable to suppose that as every thing on this earth has been created on a wise and unerring principle1 ,epidemic and ,infectious ,diseases are only indicative of some serious errors in our social arrangements and habits4 ,the dangers and misery brought upon us by disease1 may1 as shewn by ,dr4 ,spurzheim and ,mr4 ,combe1 be warnings against the infringement of the natural laws4 ,indeed1 what is more rational than to suppose that the ,seeds of ,disease are coeval with the fall of man4 ,his first disobedience vi brought death3--that his subsequent errors should hasten its approaches is not to be marvelled at4 ,the undetected murderer1 though he may escape the punishment human justice would inflict upon him for his delinquency1 suffers a penalty in the tortures of conscience1 infinitely more horrifying than the most ignominious death4 ,the law of nature is triumphant4 ,no less certain1 though after a different manner1 are the consequences of minor forms of disobedience4 ,it is so ordained1 that certain diseases shall arise1 under peculiar conditions1 which may have been brought about by a train of causes1 easily imagined1 and difficult to be explained1 but all having their origin in the vices and errors of man in his moral and social relations4 ,if man neglects the cultivation of the ground2 with rank vegetation1 the germs of fever will invisibly grow and multiply2 if he harbours that which is rotten and corrupt1 he is himself consumed by those agents destined to remove the rottenness and corruption2 it is a part of the law of nature that there should be active and energetic agents for this purpose4 ,the seeds of disease1 like the seeds of plants1 may be shewn to have vii their indigenous localities2 like them they may be spread and multiplied2 like them they may lie dormant1 and after awhile spring as it were into active existence2 like them1 when the soil and other conditions favour1 they are ever ready to make their appearance4 ,and this is the law1 the germs of all disease exist1 and have existed4 ,despise the dictates of nature1 be careless of yourself and those around you1 neglect to use the means which a noble intelligence has placed at your command1 and above all1 transgress the laws of ,god1 then will disease pursue and attend you1 as the conscience of the murderer pursues and attends him until he is finally cut off4 ,his wants and necessities1 his sufferings and privations1 are the basis of the intellectual progress of man4 ,the wonders of ,omnipotence are revealed through the whirlwind1 the storm1 the pestilence1 and the famine4 ,the constructive and perceptive faculties of man have been developed by the necessity of protecting himself from injury by winds and rains2 his intellectual faculties have been cultivated1 by the sufferings of disease having led him to the study of viii organization and life1 to discover the cause1--and to chemistry1 and other sciences for the cure of his ailments4 ,famine and distress have aroused his emotions1 and softened down his asperities1 so that what appears at first to be the infliction of a ,curse without ,pity1 is in reality a ,judgment with ,mercy4 ,it occurred to me1 that on the formation of the ,epidemiological ,society1 the first question for consideration should be1 ,what is the nature of those agents1 which induce ,epidemic ,diseases8 are they composed of animate or inanimate matter8 ,in other words1 do the manifestations of these diseases exhibit the operations of living or of chemical forces4 ,having1 in my study1 dwelt on the subject with an earnest desire to find the truth1 ,i put the suggestion1 with my ideas1 before the public to reject or receive them4 ,if they be rejected1 ,i can but think a full discussion of the enquiry will lead to the most important results4 ,if they be received with favour1 ,i doubt not others1 with more ability1 will take up the strain and resolve the discords into harmony4 ,j4 ,g4 ,wandsworth1 ,september1 #ahej4 ix ,,contents4 ,,page ,,introduction #a ,,chapter ,i4 ,,is ,,it ,,probable ,,that ,,epidemic1 ,,endemic1 ,,and ,,infectious ,,diseases1 ,,depend ,,upon ,,vital ,,germs ,,for ,,their ,,manifestations8 #aa ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,number ,,and ,,value ,,of ,,facts ,,to ,,support ,,the ,,proposition4 ,,section ,i4--,on ,reproduction #bb ,,section ,,ii4--,historical ,notice of ,epidemic ,diseases #cd ,,section ,,iii4--,the ,dispersion of ,plants and ,diseases #fd ,,section ,,iv4--,the ,relation between ,epidemic and ,endemic ,diseases #if ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,reasonableness ,,of ,,the ,,application ,,of ,,the ,,facts ,,to ,,the ,,inference4 ,,section ,i4--,the ,chemical ,theory of ,epidemics untenable #ajh ,,section ,,ii4--,the ,animalcular ,theory of ,epidemics untenable #abh ,,section ,,iii4--,sketch of the ,physiology and ,pathology of ,plants and ,animals #ach ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,results ,,in ,,proof ,,of ,,the ,,tenableness ,,of ,,the ,,proposition4 ,,section ,i4--,observations on some of the ,laws of ,epidemic ,diseases #aee ,,section ,,ii4--,what is the nature of those ,poisons which most resemble the ,morbid ,poisons in their effects on the body8 #aff ,,section ,,iii4--,what results do we obtain from the effects of remedial agents1 in proof of the hypothesis8 #agf ,,conclusion #ahi 99 99 99 99 99 #a ,,introduction4 ,it is one thing for a man to convince himself1 but a very different thing to be able to convince others4 ,i am not now speaking of a conviction arising from the impression made by a few startling facts1 nor of one forced on the mind by early prejudices1 or by the dogmas of the schools1 but of a conviction arising from careful enquiry4 ,in the course of that enquiry1 the collector of facts1 sees their relations to the idea in his mind1 in a multiplicity of ways1 from their remaining1 each1 as one succeeds the other1 an appreciable time on the sensorium1 and undergoing a certain process of comparison and relation1 with all other facts and ideas which have been previously stored up4 ,as the materials for an edifice which have been shaped and prepared in accordance with the completion of the design1 so do the facts and ideas which are accumulated #b in the mind1 become shaped and prepared for the elimination of a truth4 ,the ultimate design of the architect can no more be conceived by the examination of the framework of a window1 or the capital of a column1 than the whole truth of a proposition by the examination of separate facts2 the whole must be conceived and all the relations of all the parts thoroughly understood1 before the architect can be comprehended or the harmony of his design appreciated4 ,the process of thought in the minds of the architect1 and in the framer of a proposition1 is never exactly the same as in those who contemplate and examine their completed works4 ,much may be done1 however1 by both to aid others in comprehending them4 ,the more accurately they keep in view the course their minds have taken1 the more readily will their descriptions be understood4 ,to simplify the elements of our knowledge is to give others a ready access to our thoughts4 ,to arrange the course of our ideas in harmony with the elements of our knowledge should be the end of all writing1 as it is the only means of multiplying knowledge4 #c ,it is not the mere accumulation of facts which constitutes science1 any more than a collection of building materials constitutes a house1 it is the arrangement and adaptation of the means to the end by which the house becomes built and science cultivated4 ,these reflections have been suggested by the circumstance that for the last #cjjj years and upwards1 ,pestilences have at certain intervals done their work of destruction1 and opened the springs of misery to untold millions1 and yet ,i see not that we are much further advanced as to the knowledge of the cause of these inflictions than the ,jews in the time of ,moses4 ,in the ,levitical law1 as ,i shall have occasion more particularly to shew hereafter1 were directions specially given in reference to the plague of leprosy2 what means should be adopted for the cure of the disease1 and for preventing its extension1 and moreover pointing very significantly to certain facts having connexion with the cause of the affection4 ,since that time historians generally1 and medical writers in particular1 have diligently recorded their observations and accumulated facts1 on the various desolating plagues which #d have afflicted mankind4 ,some of these men have grappled with the whole subject1 and endeavoured to shew the presumed relation of the supposed causes in all their intricacies1 but it is hardly necessary to say that all have signally failed in their attempts to furnish us with any practical information4 ,satisfied in my own mind that the whole subject is beyond the labour of one man1 and impressed with the belief that the basis of the enquiry is in anything but a satisfactory state1 ,i have applied myself entirely to the study of the groundwork only1 as the primary proceeding for a solid superstructure4 ,the days are past1 when imaginary spirits1 ethers1 and astronomical phenomena1 were believed to have any essential influence over our destinies in a physical point of view2 we have therefore to deal with matter in some form or other4 ,the question1 therefore1 which ,i have proposed for enquiry1 is1 whether the matter which causes epidemic and endemic diseases1 exhibits the properties of inorganic or organized matter4 ,the properties and qualities of organized #e bodies1 as well as those of inorganic matter1 need but be stated1 and in some instances we may picture to ourselves the object1 without having seen it1 and not be very far from a true conception4 ,but for this purpose a clear and definite idea must be previously formed1 and have taken possession of the mind1 of the great general divisions of objects in the material world4 ,having made these preliminary remarks1 ,i have suggested a certain mode of procedure in making enquiries of this kind1 not perhaps in strict accordance with logical systems1 but on the principle of nature's operations in our own minds1 which appears to me1 when reduced to a systematic and simple form1 to be sufficiently clear and strict for synthetical application1 and so concise as to be usefully and practicably applied4 ,in endeavouring to establish a theory for the explanation of extraordinary phenomena1 there are certain rules which should guide us in the thorny and treacherous path of speculation4 ,but these rules readily flow from the train of thought1 and if we examine our own minds during their operations1 we #f shall find that the following is the course of our instinctive reflections4 ,it is a course we adopt as the test of theories when formed1 and is a guide in all cases for their construction4 ,we first commence with an idea1 which exists in our minds in the form of a proposition3 then the following rules naturally suggest themselves3-- #a4 ,the probability of the value of our proposition from inference4 #b4 ,the number and value of facts to support the proposition4 #c4 ,the reasonableness of the application of the facts to the inference4 #d4 ,what amount of information in the form of results can be produced in proof of the tenableness of the proposition4#a ,in illustration of the value of these rules the history of ,dr4 ,jenner's discovery affords an appropriate example4 ,to use the words of ,dr4 ,gregory1 he appears very early in #g life to have had his attention fixed by a popular notion among the peasantry of ,gloucestershire1 of the existence of an affection in the cow1 supposed to afford security against the ,small ,pox2 but he was not successful in convincing his professional brethren of the importance of the idea4 ,the popular notion of the peasantry originated the idea in ,jenner's mind1 and it became fixed there as a proposition4 #a4 ,he commenced his enquiry by observing that the hands of milkers on the dairy farms were subject to an eruption1 and he inferred that the notion of the peasantry bore the stamp of probability1 which strengthened the idea in his mind and gave force to the proposition4 #b4 ,his next step was to accumulate facts2 he found on enquiry that the persons engaged on these farms in milking1 possessed an immunity from ,small ,pox to an extent sufficient to strengthen the value of his proposition4 #c4 ,the reasonableness of the application of the facts to the inference is clear from the coincidence that the eruption on the hands of the dairy people bore a striking #h resemblance to the ,small ,pox1 and as this disease does not usually occur twice in the same individual1 the inference was most reasonable that this eruption protected the people from ,small ,pox4 #d4 ,we have but to take the almost universal adoption of vaccination1 and its acknowledged prophylactic powers against the propagation of ,small ,pox to shew the application of our fourth rule4#b ,between the conception of the idea and the accomplishment of ,jenner's designs1 vaccination seems to have undergone an incubation of nearly twenty years4 ,during that period1 with an energy and perseverance only to be obtained by confidence1 did this great man brood over and elaborate his idea2 and well might the #adth day of ,may1 #i #agif1 be styled the birth day of vaccination1 for on that day was a child first inoculated from the hands of a milker4 ,in adopting the above method ,i have endeavoured to bear in mind ,m4 ,quetelet's observations on the requirements necessary for medical authorship2 he says1 ,all reasonable men will1 ,i think1 agree on this point1 that we must inform ourselves by observation1 collect well-recorded facts1 render them rigorously comparable1 before seeking to discuss them with a view of declaring their relations1 and methodically proceeding to the appreciation of causes4 99 99 99 99 99 #aj #aa ,,chapter ,i4 ,,is ,,it ,,probable ,,that ,,epidemic1 ,,endemic1 ,,and ,,infectious ,,diseases1 ,,depend ,,upon ,,vital ,,germs ,,for ,,their ,,manifestations8 ,it is1 ,i believe1 almost universally considered that ,epidemic1 ,endemic1 and ,infectious diseases1 originate from some imaginary poisons of a specific nature1 each disease having its own peculiar poison4 ,that this conception should have taken possession of the minds of men1 is most natural from the symptoms which characterize these diseases1 but when we come to enquire into the nature of these agents1 or supposed poisons1 we are at once struck with the idea that they exhibit one peculiarity which separates them in a marked manner1 from those poisons with which we are familiar2 for the poisons of ,small ,pox1 ,measles1 ,scarlet ,fever1 ,hooping ,cough1 ,fever1 c4 possess the power of multiplication1 or spontaneous increase1 a property which attaches only to the organic kingdom1 and is never known in the inorganic kingdom4 ,the source of most of the poisons is to be found among mineral or vegetable products4 ,a mineral in combination with an acid or oxygen may become a poison1 and #ab nitrogen in various combinations with oxygen1 hydrogen1 and carbon1 or with carbon alone1 may become a poison2 these combinations are1 however1 in most instances the products of vegetable life1 others again are obtained from the animal kingdom1 such as the poison of the serpent1 c4 but in all of these instances1 there is not one in which the power of self-multiplication is to be found4 ,we are1 therefore1 constrained to admit that this feature1 which distinguishes poisons1 is one well worthy attentive consideration4 ,the varieties of poisons may be classified into those which act topically as escharotic poisons1 those which act chemically on the blood1 and those whose effects are manifested in inducing a speedy annihilation of organic or vital action1 as in the case of hydrocyanic acid1 which is supposed specifically to affect the nervous centres from which originate the vital manifestations4 ,it is rather remarkable that the vital poisons 7as ,i will call them for distinction71 seem to have their appropriate locality in the blood1 they do not primarily affect one organ more than another1 all the effects we witness resulting from them are to be traced progressively from the blood to other parts of the body4 ,when a person is inoculated with small pox1 a very minute portion 7indeed it is impossible to say how minute it may be7 is sufficient1 when absorbed1 to excite a certain train of symptoms1 all due to absorption of the materies of the disease1 and the process by which #ac that materies arrives at maturity1 is that known in the vegetable world as the fructification2 this process of fructification is a process of development and increase4 ,i here may repeat that among all the poisons known1 constituted as they are of various combinations of elementary matter1 they are without exception destitute of the power of development or increase4 ,now1 it is pretty accurately known what amount of these poisons is necessary to produce their effects on the living body2 we can say how many drops are sufficient of hydrocyanic acid of ,scheeles strength1 to destroy a man instantaneously4 ,again1 how many grains of arsenious acid are sufficient to induce such an inflammatory condition of the stomach and intestine as will end in death1 and how many grains of morphia1 will bring about a fatal coma1--but who shall say the amount of the vital poisons necessary to produce their results8 ,it far exceeds the limit of conjecture1 to what extent the dilution of miasmatic or contagious matter may be carried1 and the poison yet be capable of committing in a short time the most frightful ravages4 ,we may fairly then infer1 that if a quantity of matter inappreciable in amount be sufficient to exhibit the characters of growth and increase1 that it is endowed with the properties of vitality4 ,that the poisons of scarlet fever1 of measles1 and of small-pox have this power of growth and increase1 is as much a matter of universal belief as that the sun #ad will rise and set to-morrow1 and that all living beings will die4 ,this power of individual increase1 or reproduction1 is the very summit of vital manifestation2 indeed ,coleridge1 in his ,theory of ,life1 7in which he says1 ,i define life as the principle of individuation1 or the power which unites a given all into a whole that is presupposed by all its parts17 places reproduction in the first rank1 and expresses his hypothesis thus3 the constituent forces of life in the human living body are1 first1 the power of length or reproduction2 #bnd1 the power of surface1 or irritability2 #crd1 the power of depth1 or sensibility--life itself is neither of these separately1 but the copula of all three4 ,extensive research is not required to shew that many thinking men believe in the existence of living organic beings1 as the elements of contagious and epidemic diseases2 the idea indeed seems to flow spontaneously in that direction4 ,whenever thought1 and enduring contemplation1 have been concentrated on the subject1 the result appears to have been the same1 a firm conviction in each individual mind that a vital force must be in operation2 or as ,schlegel would define it1 a living reproductive power1 capable of and designed to develope and propagate itself4--,its ,maker originally fixed and assigned to it the end towards which all its efforts were ultimately to be directed4 ,referring further to beings having the property of reproduction and propagation1 he says1 7using #ae the word nature here evidently as the vital principle for want of a better term17 ,nature indeed is not free like man1 but still is not a piece of dead clockwork4 ,there is life in it4--,thus we know that even plants sleep1 and that they too as much as animals1 though after a different sort1 have a true impregnation and propagation4 ,when ,schlegel wrote this1 how little could he have imagined the intricacy of this proceeding among the lower forms of vegetation4 ,it has been shewn by ,suminski1 and verified by many others1 that the mode of impregnation1 and the period at which it occurs in the ferns1 do not at all correspond to the general notion on this subject4 ,he has discovered in the early development of the frond of ferns certain cells1 which he denominates antheridia1 or sperm cells2 these contain in their cavity a number of subordinate cells1 each containing a spermatazoon4 ,at a certain period of the progress of the frond1 the parent cells become ruptured and liberate the spermatoza1 these move about in a mucilaginous fluid1 which bedews the inferior surface of the frond1 and become the means of impregnating the germ cells1 or pistillidia1 with which they readily come in contact4 ,thus the process of impregnation in these plants occurs during the germination1 or what corresponds to the period of germination in the seeds of exogenous and endogenous plants4 ,i have referred to the discovery of ,suminski in #af this place to recal to the mind the great and incomprehensible wonders of creation1 for who could conceive it possible or feasible that even for the impregnation of an inferior vegetable1 animal life should form an indispensable and essential appurtenant of the process4 ,truly may we say with ,coleridge1 of plants and insects1 so reciprocally inter-dependent and necessary are they to each other1 that we can almost as little think of vegetation without insects1 as of insects without vegetation4 ,i will make but two more quotations on the supposed vital character of the germs of disease4 ,that the air and atmosphere of our globe is in the highest degree full of life1 ,i may1 ,i think1 take here for granted1 and generally admitted4 ,it is1 however1 of a mixed kind and quality1 combining the refreshing breath of spring with the parching simooms of the desert1 and where the healthy odours fluctuate in chaotic struggle with the most deadly vapours4 ,what else in general is the wide-spread and spreading pestilence1 but a living propagation of foulness1 corruption1 and death8 ,are not many poisons1 especially animal poisons1 in a true sense1 living forces8--,schlegel4#c ,it were useless to multiply quotations to shew #ag that the opinions here entertained are matters of general belief among thinking men4#d ,i will at once then conclude with an observation of ,dr4 ,c4 ,j4 ,b4 ,williams3 he puts the question1 ,does the matter of contagion consist of vegetable seeds8 ,are infectious diseases the results of the operations and invasions of living parasites1 disturbing in sundry ways the structures and functions of the body1 each after its own kind1 until the vital powers either fail or succeed in expelling the invading tribes from the system8 ,and this expression1 the seeds1 is an universal expression1 it is a ,household ,word in connexion with disease4 ,that it has obtained this position in the popular vocabulary is alone a proof of the applicability of the term to the thing intended to be #ah signified4 ,popular notions1 as we have seen in the case of ,jenner's discovery1 are not to be unheeded4 ,an instance occurs to me1 it was a popular belief1 that in acne punctata1 the matter of a sebaceous follicle1 was itself1 when pressed out1 a worm1 the dark portion which results from the accumulation of dust upon the matter at the mouth of the follicle was supposed to be the head of the maggot1 as it was called2 subsequent observation1 however1 has proved that though this matter is not a worm1 it contains an animal within its substance1 the ,acarus folliculorum4 ,the popular notions found among savage tribes as to the efficacy of certain remedies in the cure of disease have been the means of furnishing us with some of our most valuable medicines1 indeed it is almost impossible to say whether originally man did not derive his remedies from the herbs and trees by an instinctive faculty impelling him1 as it does the animals when in a state of liberty and with freedom of range1 to seek certain plants as they avoid others4 ,it is well known that animals when indisposed will find out some spot as if almost led to it by a visionary guide where the healing plant is to be discovered4 ,i am told that sheep have this faculty1 and that they will1 when affected with the rot1 feed upon some plant when they can discover it1 which eradicates the disease4 ,almost every one is familiar with the fact that cats and dogs will crop herbage and eat it2 ,i have #ai seen them frequently leave the house and proceed to the grass in the most business-like manner1 partake of some quantity1 and quietly return4 ,a close observer of diseased animals might obtain some useful information by noticing the plants cropped by them while in that condition4 ,the observations should be made in a variety of districts in consequence of the uncertain distribution of some even of the most commonly scattered plants2 in one year they may be abundant1 but in another they may be almost entirely absent from the same spot4#e ,were it only on the fact of reproduction1 ,i would be contented to take my stand that the force of life is the indwelling power of pestilential matter4 ,reproduction is a law of nature1 and the law of nature is the law of ,god4 ,and where do we find ,he prevaricates with us8 ,the more we study ,his laws the more harmony and perfection we find2 what is seeming confusion in the ignorance of to-day1 is order in the knowledge of to-morrow4 ,if any one ignorant of the law which regulates the diffusion of gases were #bj told that a heavier gas would ascend contrary to its specific gravity through the septum in a vessel containing a lighter gas above the heavier1 he would naturally doubt your assertion1 and say1 that is contrary to the law of gravity2 but explain to him the principle by which this comes about1 and the objects of the law2 the order and beauty of the design become manifest4 ,but this is no equivocation1 it is evidence there1 that subordinate laws exist and nothing more4 ,it has never been found that men have gathered grapes of thorns and figs of thistles1 nor has it ever been discovered that inanimate matter multiplies itself4 ,the seed of disease is within itself1 multiplying and propagating itself2 whether it formed a part of creation at the beginning or not1 is rather a question to be solved by divines than physicians4 ,when we know1 however1 the latency of seeds and even of entire plants1 and that they may be dried and remain so for years yet being brought again into conditions adapted to their active existence1 they1 as it were1 revive from their sleep1 and renew again their reproductive properties3 can we wonder if1 in the great scheme of nature1 existences new to mankind should make their appearance8 ,when the ,new ,zealander saw the surface of his ground producing to him unknown plants1 and the skins of his children generating peculiar eruptions1 and each propagating its kind1 would he look1 think you1 to the wood or the stones1 the air or the water1--for the solution of the #ba mystery8 ,no1 he would naturally say these people brought the seeds with them4 ,from the property of reproduction possessed by these forms of matter1 we infer the value of the proposition4 99 99 99 99 99 #bb ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,the ,,number ,,and ,,value ,,of ,,facts ,,to ,,support ,,the ,,proposition4 -------- ,,section ,i4 ,,on ,,reproduction4 ,it is inferred that the proposition1 the matter which operates in the production of ,epidemic1 ,endemic1 and ,infectious ,diseases1 possesses the property of vitality1 we proceed now to the enumeration of those facts which further elucidate this subject4 ,the facts must necessarily be such as illustrate the identity of properties in the imaginary germs1 that are known to exist in demonstrable germs3 we take therefore the law of reproduction to be to life1 what the law of attraction is to gravitation4#f #bc ,but further2 do those matters which engender disease furnish to our minds the properties inseparable from life in the abstract8 ,though the faculty of reproduction is essentially an evidence that the thing which reproduces its kind must be a living body1 yet it is only a property or power of living beings and is not itself life1 it therefore is necessary to establish the fact that the materies morbi not only has the power of reproduction1 but also those properties which in the abstract will prove as far as demonstration can go1 that it has the essential properties common to all living bodies4 ,i must again quote from ,coleridge1 he says3 ,by life ,i every where mean the true idea of life1 or that most general form under which life manifests itself to us1 which includes all its other forms4 ,this ,i have stated to be the tendency to individuation and the degrees or intensities of life1 to consist in the progressive realization of this tendency4 ,the #bd power which is acknowledged to exist wherever the realization is found1 must subsist wherever the tendency is manifested4 ,the power which comes forth and stirs abroad in the bird1 must be latent in the egg4 ,the tendency to individuation cannot be more strongly marked than in the simple experiment of vaccination3 we insert a small particle of the so-called vaccine lymph under the skin1 and by this means we multiply to an enormous extent1 the power which1 in the first instance1 we had in the form of minute corpuscles in a dry and apparently inert state2 nevertheless1 though in this condition there must have existed the tendency to individuation or multiplication of individual existence1 and the germs are here to their active existence1 as seen in the development of the vaccine vesicle1 what the egg is to the bird1#g as described above2 we may1 therefore1 say that the power which exhibits itself in the production of a vaccine vesicle1 must have been latent in the dried matter4 ,it is the opinion of ,muller that the entire vital principle of the egg #be resides in the germinal disk alone1 and since the external influences which act on the germs of the most different organic beings are the same1 we must regard the simple germinal disk1 consisting of granular amorphous matter1 as the potential whole of the future animal1 endowed with the essential and specific force or principle of the future being1 and capable of increasing the very small amount of this specific force and matter1 which it already possesses1 by the assimilation of new matter4 ,after speaking of inanimate objects1 ,dr4 ,carpenter says2 and what compared with the permanence of these is the duration of any structure subject to the conditions of vitality8 ,to be born1 to grow1 to arrive at maturity1 to decline1 to die1 to decay1 is the sum of the history of every being that lives2 from man1 in the pomp of royalty1 or the pride of philosophy1 to the gay and thoughtless insect that glitters for a few hours in the sunbeam and is seen no more2 from the stately oak1 the monarch of the forest through successive centuries1 to the humble fungus which shoots forth and withers in a day4 ,to be born1 signifies the faculty of reproduction existing or having existed in an antecedent being to that one born1 and also that itself possesses equally a like power4 ,to be born1 is the first expression which must be used in speaking of the faculties or properties of living beings as independent existences1 the annual formation of buds1 trees1 and shrubs1 is a multiplication of the species2 the coral #bf and various budding polypes increase by this process1 indeed what is the seed of a plant1 or the egg of a bird1 or the ovum of mammalia1 but cast off buds2 in all1 the new being was originally a portion of its parent1 and if we examine the ovary of the vegetable1 the bird1 or the mammal1 can we find any expression more fitting to designate the process than that of budding4 ,to be born then1 is the evidence of an act of one living being1 and the commencement of a series of vital phenomena in another1 but all these are subsequent to reproduction1 and constitute another chain of vital acts1 all tending to a similar result1 the multiplication of the species4#h ,now1 whether we apply the philosophical language of ,coleridge1 or the language of observation of ,muller1 in confirmation of the doctrine here inculcated1 we arrive at the same point4 ,do we not witness in the newly formed vaccine vesicle1 an increase of the specific force and principle8 ,we certainly have acquired by the process of vaccination a manifold multiplication of power1 and is there not also assimilation of new matter in #bg which this power resides8 ,and does not every particle of this new matter contain within itself the same force and principle1 as existed in that which generated it8 ,we revert again to potentiated length in the power of magnetism 7reproduction72 to surface in the power of electricity1 and to the synthesis of both or potentiated depth in constructive1 that is chemical affinity4#i ,some may be at a loss to conceive1 at first1 how irritability may be considered a property of all vegetable matter2 that it does exist in some vegetables is certain1 but that it does exist in all living beings is equally certain2#aj the term1 however1 which would appear more appropriate when that irritability does not exhibit itself in an appreciable form1 is impressibility4 ,irritability1 as commonly understood1 is seen in its highest condition in muscular tissue2 but the irritable power and an analogon of voluntary motion first dawn on us in the vegetable world in the stamina and anthers at the period of #bh impregnation4--,the insect world is the exponent of irritability1 as the vegetable is of reproduction4 ,the property of irritability attains its acme in man1 the most highly organized of all beings2 and its gradations pass downwards through the whole scale of animate creation2 not so reproduction1 for this faculty observes the very opposite direction1 for in plants a single impregnation is sufficient for the evolution of myriads of detached lives4 ,reproduction is a fact1 it is an essential property of life1 and is a reality to us from observation2 but irritability is not so tangible and demonstrable a property4 ,we nevertheless may assume its universality1 from the circumstance that we lose sight of it by imperceptible degrees2 the irritability of the sensitive plant is as much irritability as that of the highly organized muscle2 but because the faculty evades our perception1 in tapering by degrees1 becoming beautifully less1 we have no reason for pronouncing its total extinction at any one point of the vegetable kingdom1#aa any more than we should have #bi in saying that we see the end of the earth1 when describing the extent of our vision as we stand on the sea shore4 ,the extreme limit of our vision is the tangent of the circle in reference to our visual organs2 but how many tangential points there may be beyond1 it is impossible to say without knowing the dimensions of the circle4 ,i think we are now in a condition to assume1 as far as abstraction will conduct us without proceeding to an extreme length1 that the materies morbi1 or1 as ,i will now call them for the sake of clearer distinction1 semina morbi1 possess those properties which in the abstract are common to all living beings4 ,another argument strikes me as capable of adding further strength to the proposition4 ,we need but be told that a small piece of iron was placed in a certain position with regard to another piece of iron1 and that the smaller piece moved through a given space and became attached to the larger1 to infer that magnetic force was in operation4 ,supposing this magnet then to be folded in paper1 and that it #cj be promiscuously placed near a compass1 the deflection of the needle would indicate that some object in the vicinity was the cause of the deflection2 we may farther try what positions the needle takes by varying the position of the packet1 and thus point out which is the north and which the south pole of the screw of paper4 ,if we may consider attraction then to be to gravitation what reproduction is to life1 we do not err in saying in the one instance that there is a living being1 and in the other there is a magnet4 ,the nebular theory1 from which some astronomers made the foundation of many speculations1 came with so much interest to our minds that the fascination could not be resisted4 ,it was most delightful to revel in the imagination that we possessed a key to the mode of formation of the starry hosts1 and when speculation had taken its extreme limits in the ,vestiges of the ,natural ,history of ,creation1 and the nebulae had served as the ground work of a gigantic scheme1 ,lord ,ross's monster telescope swept the heavens of its cobwebs4 ,we can imagine this great promoter of science saying to us1 ,gentlemen1 the clouds which have obscured you1 are composed of myriads of stars1 and comprise systems as vast and as luminous as our own1 had you but power of vision to discern them4 ,a new light thus appeared to philosophers1 and though no great practical results may flow from the discovery1 it is instructive from the fact that the imperfectly aided or unaided vision1 should not limit legitimate #ca inference4 ,the nebulae before ,lord ,ross's discovery were to the astronomer what the materies of epidemic and infectious disease are to medical men4 ,in the absence however of a giant microscope to reveal such great truths1 we may yet dimly shadow them by the light of our reason4 ,it was predicted in #ahdi that minute vegetable germs1 in all probability all of the same type1 were the agents producing epidemic and infectious disease4 ,in #ahej1 ,mr4 ,oke ,spooner says1#ab ,on examining the matter of ,small #cb ,pox and ,cow ,pox in every stage1 he finds its essential character to consist of a number of minute cells not exceeding the #aj1jjjth part of an inch in diameter3 being about one-fourth smaller than the globules of the blood1 containing within their circumference many still more minute nuclei1 and presenting beyond their circumference bud-like cells of the same size and character as those contained within the circle4 ,should these observations made by ,mr4 ,spooner turn out to be correct1 they will but fulfil my anticipations4 ,then again shall we see the same application of imperfect vision to the limitation or temporary obstruction of solid and determinate knowledge4 ,we may reasonably expect that these bodies1 discovered by ,mr4 ,spooner1 should be the elementary matters of disease4 ,their existence was predicted from the probability that living matter must be the agent2 moreover1 that this matter when discovered #cc would be cellular1 most probably resembling the yeast plant as described by ,mr4 ,spooner4 ,it was predicted that a planet would be discovered in a certain position in the heavens1 because the perturbations of a comet indicated an attracting body in the path of the eccentric wanderer2 the prediction and the fulfilment were almost simultaneous4 99 99 99 99 99 #cd ,,section ,,ii4 ,,historical ,,notice ,,of ,,epidemic ,,diseases4 ,the earliest notices we have of ,pestilences are contained in ,holy ,writ4 ,the plagues which smote the ,egyptians in the time of ,moses are not unworthy some comment here4 ,of those ten plagues1 four out of the number were due to the miraculous appearance of myriads of the lower animal tribes1 in three instances of insects1#ac viz4 lice1 flies1 and locusts2 in the fourth1 when ,aaron stretched forth his hand with his rod over the streams1 over the rivers1 and the ponds1 frogs came up and covered the land of ,egypt4 ,in these instances living beings are made the instruments in ,god's hand for the punishment of the wicked4 ,these plagues include the second1 third1 fourth1 and eighth4 ,the first plague is mentioned as a conversion of the waters into blood4 ,now if we may take this expression as being literal1 there is no reason to suppose that this blood differed in any respect from ordinary sanguineous liquid2 we therefore may assume1 as the blood is every where in ,scripture spoken of as the life1 that this fluid was endowed with vital properties4 #ce ,the fifth plague is described as a murrain among beasts2 and the sixth1 as exhibiting itself as a boil breaking forth with blains1 upon man and upon beast4#ad ,now these affections bear a resemblance to the diseases known to us at the present day through authentic records4 ,the ,black ,death of the #adth century affords in its history but too awful a picture of the horrors of such pestilences4 ,in the tenth plague1 the smiting of the first-born1 we are not told by what means it was brought about2 but we have something even here to lead us to conjecture4 ,in the second visitation of the ,black ,death1 there were destroyed a great many children whom it had formerly spared1 and but few women4 ,the seventh plague of hail is within our conception2 as is also that of darkness1 the ninth plague4 ,it is not a little remarkable that of the ten plagues1 seven of them depended upon agents intelligible to our comprehension2 we can conceive of #cf the invasion of a country by myriads of loathsome insects and reptiles1 and can imagine the wrath of an offended ,deity directing the force of a supernatural storm of hail upon a disobedient people2 and we can conjecture1 though faintly1 the consternation of human nature on being subjected to a total darkness of three days' duration1 when we consider that darkness has been described1 as a darkness that might be felt4 ,from this abstract we discover that the three plagues whose causes we cannot understand1 or rather upon which no light has been thrown by ,scripture1 bear analogies to those which we recognise1 in the writings of modern authors1 as fearful pestilences4 ,it is now our province to reflect on the causes supposed to be in operation in the three instances1 which become naturally separated from the rest4 ,we are told that a murrain appeared among the cattle1 without any preliminary step4 ,when the blains broke out upon man and beast1 ,moses had been previously directed by the ,almighty to take handfuls of the ashes of the furnace1 and sprinkle them towards the heaven in the sight of ,pharaoh4 ,and it shall become small dust in all the land of ,egypt1 and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man and upon beast1 throughout all the land of ,egypt4 ,another coincidence1 in connexion with subsequent pestilences1 arrests the attention1 on the subject of the mysterious appearance on these occasions of #cg matter resembling dust being prevalent about the houses1 and on the clothes of the people4 ,clouds also1 and showers of dust-like particles1 were not of infrequent occurrence4 ,indeed1 in the summer of #ahdi1 during the progress of the ,cholera1 several phenomena of a similar nature were observed and authenticated2 ,i myself can bear testimony to one instance of the kind4 ,it was observed by many persons in my neighbourhood after the passage of an ominous and lurid cloud1 that as they walked their clothes became covered with a singular dust-like matter of very peculiar appearance4 ,that this phenomenon was not destitute of significance may be gathered from the fact1 that on the night of that day several severe cases of ,cholera occurred1 though our village had been comparatively free for ten days4 ,hecker1 in writing on the ,black ,death says1 the ,german accounts expressly speak of a thick stinking mist which advanced from the east1#ae and #ch spread itself over ,italy2 there could be no deception in so palpable a phenomenon4 ,it is not unworthy of mention1 that in the ,east successive invasions of locusts which had never perhaps darkened the sun in thicker swarms1 preceded the great outbreak of this disease1 for they left famine in their train4 ,from #aejj to #aejc in ,germany and ,france1 during the prevalence of the sweating sickness1 spots of different colours made their appearance1 principally red1 but also white1 yellow1 grey1 and black1 often in a very short time1 on the roofs of houses1 on clothes1 on the veils and neckerchiefs of women1 c4 ,blood rain is also mentioned as having occurred at this time1 which consisted of the aggregation of minute particles of red matter4 ,in the seven plagues1 miraculous operations of the ,deity consisted in the unusual manifestation of phenomena1 but which in their effects are recognizable as of clear and definite import4 ,the miracles here are1--in the mode of producing the swarms of frogs1 locusts1 c4 but they are manifest and unmistakeable causes of plague and famine2 in the other three1 on the contrary1 we witness only the effects1 the causes are hidden from us2 we may1 therefore1 as in current events1 legitimately investigate the subject1 and what better course can be adopted than that which classifies the traditionary past with all subsequent history4 ,presuming such a method of research to be admitted1 ,i have assumed that as #ci the causes of the seven plagues have been distinctly given1 the others1 though only mentioned in their effects1 were due to causes of a nature in some way to be compared with their concomitants1 that is to say1 if a special intervention of the ,deity brought about a miraculous appearance of frogs1 lice1 c4 there is but little reason to doubt that some other agent was miraculously multiplied and concentrated to induce the murrain1 engender the blain1 and smite the first-born3 as if to lead us into this enquiry1 on the visitation of the blain in man and beast1 the ,bible ,history tells us that ,moses threw ashes of the furnace1 which became a dust throughout all the land of ,egypt2 we cannot imagine that this simply as ashes could have caused the blain1 we may conclude that by some special miracle1 either the ashes were converted into a specific form of matter capable of inducing the effects recorded1 or that an independent septic matter was generated for the purpose4 ,if the latter1 the act of throwing the ashes of the furnace into the air may have been intended to signify that the extremely minute division of the particles when thus cast into space1 typified the inscrutable and hidden nature of the matter endowed with such marvellous properties4#af #dj ,further on in the book of ,leviticus are passages which ,i cannot forbear transcribing1 for they point out to us most indubitably a line of enquiry in reference to diseases of a contagious nature4 ,the garment also that the plague of leprosy is in1 whether it be a woollen garment1 or a linen garment1 whether it be in the warp or woof1 of linen or of woollen1 whether in a skin1 or in any thing made of skin1 and if the plague be greenish or reddish in the garment 444 it is a plague of leprosy1 and shall be shewed unto the ,priest1 and the ,priest shall look upon the plague and shut up it that hath the plague seven days2 and he shall look on the plague on the seventh day2 if the plague be spread in the garment1 either in the warp1 c4 444 the plague is a fretting leprosy1 it is unclean4 ,he shall therefore burn that garment 444 wherein the plague is1 for it is a fretting leprosy2 it shall be burnt in the fire4 ,and if the ,priest shall look1 and behold1 the plague be not spread in the garment 444 then the ,priest shall command that they wash the thing wherein the plague is1 and he shall shut it up seven days more3 and the ,priest shall look on the plague1 after that it is washed3 and behold if the plague have not changed his colour1 and the plague be not spread1 it is unclean2 thou #da shalt burn it in the fire2 it is fret inward2 whether it be bare within or without4 ,and if the ,priest look and behold the plague be somewhat dark after the washing of it1 then he shall rend it out of the garment 444 and if it appear still in the garment either in the warp or the woof 444 it is a spreading plague3 thou shalt burn that wherein the plague is with fire4 ,and the garment 444 which thou shalt wash1 if the plague be departed from them1 then it shall be washed the second time and shall be clean4--,chap4 xiii4 #dg-eh4 ,again in ,deuteronomy4 ,the curse for disobedience3 ,the ,lord shall make the pestilence cleave to thee until he have consumed thee from off the land4--,the ,lord shall smite thee with a consumption1 and with a fever1 and with an inflammation1 and with an extreme burning1 and with the drought1 and with blasting1 and with mildew1 and they shall pursue thee until thou perish4--,the ,lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust3 from heaven shall it come down upon thee until thou be destroyed4 ,it may be said1 and ,i doubt not will be said1 all this is unnecessarily dragging the sacred volume into an enquiry totally foreign to its general tenor2 on the contrary1 however1 ,i maintain by that ,book we are to learn the ways of ,god to man1 and further1 that no study can impress mankind with so awful1 so terrific an idea of his responsible position1 as that which leads him into the investigation of the causes #db by which the ,almighty1 doubtless in ,his wisdom1 has thought fit at various epochs of this world's history1 to place man face to face with pestilence1 famine and sudden death4 ,there is no man would less willingly than myself introduce profanely the revelations of ,scripture4 ,the observations here made are not1 therefore1 intended for light or heedless controversy2 if they have a significance of any import1 let them be alluded to in the same spirit with which they have been quoted2 if they convey nothing for approval to the reader1 let silence rest upon them4 ,to those who would fain disregard my request1 let me recall to their minds the veneration which from childhood ,i trust we have always felt on hearing or seeing those two words--,holy ,bible4 ,it is yet to be determined1 whether the greenish or reddish appearance of the garment spoken of1 as being contaminated with the plague of the leprosy had any specific relation to the disease itself4 ,the priest orders that the garment shall be shut up seven days1 and on the seventh day1 if the plague be increased1 by which1 of course1 is meant if the greenish or reddish colour have increased1 and from which we may gather that a power of spontaneous increase was possessed by the matter1 such a result indicated a fretting leprosy1 and the garment was to be burnt4 ,again1 though there may have been no increase1 but a persistence of the coloured matter after shutting up and washing the garment1 it is to #dc be burnt1 for it is fret inward1 signifying1 that the germs of the affection are still there1 and may soon increase4 ,other rules follow in reference to the plague of leprosy1 and the mode of deciding whether an article be unclean or clean is definitely laid down1 but our purpose is served in mentioning the above1 to shew that in the time of ,moses the spontaneous increase of certain minute multiplying germs was supposed to have a close connexion with disease4 ,it is equally clear1 that the priests were aware by the order given them1 that if the ordinary modes of purifying articles of clothing failed in their effect1 the safest and surest method of destroying infectious matter was to resort to the practice of consuming by fire all materials capable of propagating an infectious malady4 ,the facts above noticed1 accurately correspond to what we now know as applicable to the matter of infectious and contagious maladies4 ,it is a rule1 ,i believe universally adopted throughout the ,poor-houses of this country1 to put the clothes of all persons about to become residents in these establishments1 into ovens1 where they are submitted to a temperature incompatible with the existence of either animal or vegetable life4 ,by this means all living matters are destroyed1 but the fabrics and inorganic matters retain their properties intact4 ,this simple proceeding1 ,i am credibly informed1 is an effectual preventive of contamination by articles of clothing1 a desideratum of no small importance1 when it is #dd remembered that the diseases among the poor owe much of their inveteracy to the accumulation of effete organic matters about their persons and clothes4 ,a few more observations are called for on the quotation from ,deuteronomy1 in which allusion is made to living matter being an agent in the production of disease4 ,in the curse upon the children of ,israel for disobedience1 we read that they are to be smitten with mildew4 ,no further information1 however1 is vouchsafed to us1 nevertheless1 we can conceive the wretched condition of those on whom the curse might fall4 ,again1 we find in a continuation of this curse that the ,almighty uses means such as ,he adopted in the sixth plague of the ,egyptians4 ,the ashes of the furnace became a small dust in all the land of ,egypt1 breaking forth with blains upon man and beast4 ,in the curse of the ,israelites the words are3 ,the ,lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust3 from ,heaven shall it come down upon thee until thou be destroyed4 ,it might be conjectured that the absence of rain would be sufficient to account for the extinction of the people on whom the curse was pronounced1 by the famine and drought necessarily attendant upon the loss of moisture4 ,but this does not appear to be the meaning of the passage1 for the powder and dust are mentioned as the agents of destruction2 besides1 in the continuation of the curse1 the locust is to destroy the grain1 the worm the grapes1 and #de the olive is to shed his fruit2 we may thus take for granted that drought and famine are not to be caused by the showering of powder and dust1 it must consequently be supposed that the effects of the dust in the instance of the ,egyptians are to be compared and classified with those of the dust which smote the ,israelites4 ,as far then as ,sacred ,history conducts us in the enquiry1 concerning the causes of pestilences1 we gain encouragement in the belief that living germs are the active agents1 for in the case of the leprosy1 we have evidence of reproduction in connexion with infection1 which1 if our line of argument be tenable1 amounts to demonstration2 then1 in the other instances of the plagues1 by boils and blains1 they distinctly bear comparison with the accounts given by profane writers1 of the visitations of pestilences on the earth1 subsequently to those mentioned in ,scripture history4 ,this leads now to the consideration of recorded facts observed and noted during the various ,epidemics in the early and subsequent periods of ,man's ,history1 as given by those on whom reliance may be fairly placed4 ,setting aside the uncertain information contained in the writings of the ,chinese1#ag a people whose #df progress in the science and practice of ,medicine has nothing to commend it 7even as it is at the present day7 to the notice either of the physician or the historian1 unless it be to the latter as a mark of peculiarity both in a social and political point of view1--passing also over the ,egyptians1 the ,arabians1 and the ,greeks1--and even ,hippocrates himself1 we are driven to the ,romans for any authentic or precise notice of ,epidemic ,affections4 ,it has been attributed to ,hippocrates that he predicted the appearance of the ,plague at ,athens1 #dg and that when it was introduced into ,greece he dispelled it1 by purifying the air with fires into which were thrown sweet-scented herbs and flowers along with other perfumes4#ah ,but little advantage can be derived from enquiries concerning the first appearance of any disease1 for the probability of discovering the primary cause is certainly a #dh hopeless case1 if attempted by means of the writings of ancient authors1 when it is recollected that with all the science and learning of the ancient ,egyptians1 the use of optical instruments was not comprised among the paraphernalia of their arts4 ,the knowledge that was limited to the powers of natural vision1 where the foundation of knowledge is based upon facts obtained through the aid of that penetrator of nature's secrets1 the microscope1 offers no advantages to the student of the present day4 ,to say that a disease commenced in the ,east and travelled westward1 and at length found a habitation and a name in every part of the globe1 is no more than to say that disease is coeval with the fall of man4 ,the cause is as much hidden in the region of its birth1 as in that where it sojourns for a time4 ,the cause of the sweating sickness was as much a mystery in ,england as in all the other nations of ,europe1 which were visited by its devastating power4 ,and these observations apply with as much force to one disease as another2 for even our indigenous ague1 originating in some places so limited that the shadow of a passing cloud may mark the boundary of its dwelling place1 as inscrutably evades our vigilance1 with all the appliances that art can bring to our assistance1 in endeavouring to evoke its extraordinary properties under the cognizance of our senses4 ,if we weigh the air which carries the poison1 or analyze it by the most delicate chemical tests1 or #di take the weight of the atmosphere which is charged with it1 or if we take the blood which carries the germs of the disease to the tissues of the body1 and submit them after the work of destruction is accomplished1 to the most rigid inspection1 we can but exclaim1 ,these are ,thy marvellous works6 and confess our total inability to fathom the unbounded4 ,if then no practical advantage can accrue from investigating the writings of the ancients on these subjects1 beyond comparing their historical statements with those of more recent date1 our purpose will be served by occasionally embodying any remarkable observations of the former with those of the latter4 ,in proceeding with this course it were better to confine our minds chiefly to two diseases which appear from history to have been known from the earliest periods1 these are the ,plague and the ,small ,pox1 mentioning other diseases only en route4 ,passing then1 to the sixth century of the ,christian era for the first distinct and connected account of the ,plague1 it appears from a host of testimony1 that the history of this disease1 as given by ,procopius1 well merits our attention4 ,drs4 ,friend and ,hamilton1 in their ,histories of ,medicine1 and ,gibbon1 in his ,history of ,rome1 are equally warm in their praise of ,procopius3 the latter says1 he emulated the skill and diligence of ,thucydides in the #ej description of the ,plague at ,athens4 ,the account given by ,procopius of this disease1 does not differ materially from that given by subsequent eye-witnesses of similar pestilences4 ,its point of origin is clearly marked1 and its mode of dispersion in all directions distinctly traced from the neighbourhood of ,pelusium1 between the ,serbonian bog and the eastern channel of the ,nile4 ,it commenced in the year #edb4 ,it raged in ,constantinople in the following year1 and it was in this city that our historian gathered the materials which are handed down to us4 ,when1 however1 we anxiously look for any explanation as to the cause of the malady1 we are told that it must have been a direct visitation from ,heaven1 in consequence of the eccentric characters exhibited in its wide-spreading influence1 in not yielding to the scrutiny nor bending to the laws known to prevail1 and to regulate the course of other diseases3 neither country nor clime1 age nor sex1 the strong and healthy1 nor the weakly and previously diseased1 could be said to be free from its indiscriminate destruction4 ,but some phenomena preceding the outbreak of the pestilence are observed as coincidences by all authors4 ,gibbon thus writes3 ,i shall conclude this chapter with the comets1 the earthquakes1 and the plague which astonished or afflicted the age of ,justinian4 ,from the accounts given by this author1 earthquakes for some years had been threatening and destroying many portions of the globe1 #ea that in the ruins of cities and in the chasms of the earth1 great was the sacrifice of human life4 ,constantinople1 which suffered so severely from the plague is said to have been shaken for forty days4 ,these great disturbances of the globe have been always looked upon as indicating other and important influences of a secret or hidden nature2 these impressions on the minds of the people are traceable throughout the histories of all epidemics1 and have been sufficiently distinct among the people of our own time1 preceding and during the period of infliction4 ,from this short notice of the ,plague of #edc1 ,i pass to the ninth century1 when ,rhazes1 the ,arabian physician1 endeavoured to enlighten the world on the subject of ,small ,pox4#ai ,in quoting his opinions1 ,i am not to be understood as subscribing to them1 but merely endeavouring to point out some peculiar and interesting observations4 ,first1 then1 ,rhazes attributes the disease to a condition of the blood1 which he thus describes1 to shew how it happens that in infancy and childhood the disease is most prevalent1 and that old age is #eb least liable to the affection4#bj ,the blood of infants and children may be compared to must1 in which the coction leading to perfect ripeness has not yet begun1 nor the movement towards fermentation taken place2 the blood of young men may be compared to must which has already fermented and made a hissing noise1 and has thrown out abundant vapours and its superfluous parts1 like wine which is now still and quiet1 and arrived at its full strength1 and as to the blood of old men1 it may be compared to wine which has now lost its strength1 and is beginning to grow vapid and sour4 ,now the ,small ,pox arises when the blood putrifies and ferments1 so that the superfluous vapours are thrown out of it1 and it is changed from the blood of infants which is like must1 into the blood of young men which is like wine perfectly ripened3 and the ,small ,pox itself may be compared to the fermentation and the hissing noise which take place at that time4 ,but the cause of the disease is simply alluded to by this author1 as depending upon occult dispositions in the air1 and as he speaks here of ,measles with the ,small ,pox he goes on to say--which necessarily cause these diseases and predispose bodies to them4 ,this notion of ,rhazes that there is some peculiar condition of the blood which favours a process resembling fermentation is not without interest4 ,the circumstance that individuals are not #ec usually liable to a second attack of the disease1 no doubt directed the attention of this physician to compare the process of fermentation with disease of such a nature1 seeing that when the whole of the saccharine matter was converted into spirit1 the hissing noise1 as he calls it1 or the disengagement of carbonic acid gas would cease1 and the capacity for fermentation be entirely gone4 ,so that the occult conditions of the air1 their power of inducing a disease1 and multiplying the matter capable of engendering a similar affection1 stood in the mind of ,rhazes as analogous if not identical phenomena4 ,we pass now without further comment to the epidemics of the ,middle ,ages2 and here the work of the philosophical ,hecker leaves us little else to desire in the way of information1 as far as it is obtainable from published records4 ,from the manner in which he has grouped the facts which presented themselves to his mind in the course of a most laborious research1 he has saved the student of this subject much toil in acquiring matter for reflection2 he has here but to read and digest4 ,i know not how to select from this invaluable work the most striking passages1 to strengthen and support my hypothesis1 for not a page is destitute of facts corroborative of the doctrine that vital germs are the material agents of pestilential disorders4 ,the opening paragraph to the ,black ,death is a most cogent illustration of the assertion2 it is1 as it were1 the theme of the work4 ,that #ed ,omnipotence1 which has called the world with all its living creatures into one animated being1 especially reveals himself in the desolation of great pestilences4 ,the powers of creation come into violent collision2 the sultry dryness of the atmosphere2 the subterranean thunders2 the mist of overflowing waters are the harbingers of destruction4 ,nature is not satisfied with the ordinary alternations of life and death1 and the destroying angel waves over man and beast his flaming sword4 ,i must here apologise for large transcripts from ,hecker's work1 for neither could ,i command the amount of knowledge there displayed1 nor use such appropriate language as the learned translator has employed4 ,it is not doubted that the ,black ,death was an ,oriental plague1 only of more than usual severity1 and wider spread influence of the infectious nature of this disease1 and the active properties of the matter producing it4 ,hecker says1 articles of this kind--bedding and clothes--removed from the access of air1 not only retain the matter of contagion for an indefinite period1 but also increase its activity1 and engender it like a living being1 frightful ill consequences followed for many years after the first fury of the pestilence was past4#ba #ee ,as extraordinary atmospheric and telluric phenomena preceded the ,plague in the time of ,justinian1 so do we find similar instances recorded as the precursor of a similar visitation #gjj years later4 ,i am concerned more with those circumstances which refer more especially to my subject1 viz4 the development of organic matter1 and the peculiar odours of the atmosphere1 the latter being evidence of some foreign and unusual production in our respiratory media4 ,on the island of ,cyprus1 before the earthquake1 a pestiferous wind spread so poisonous an odour1 that many being overpowered by it1 fell down suddenly and expired in dreadful agonies4 ,a thick stinking mist advanced from the east1 and spread itself over ,italy4 #ef ,it is probable that the atmosphere contained foreign and sensibly perceptible admixtures to a great extent1 which1 at least in the lower regions1 could not be decomposed or rendered ineffective by separation4 ,in #acdh an unexampled earthquake shook ,greece1 ,italy1 and the neighbouring countries4 ,during this earthquake the wine in the casks became turbid1 a proof that changes causing a decomposition of the atmosphere had taken place4 ,the insect tribe was wonderfully called into life1 as if animated beings were destined to complete the destruction which astral and telluric powers had began4 ,the corruption of the atmosphere came from the east1 but the disease itself came not upon the wings of the wind1 but was only excited and increased by the atmosphere where it had previously existed4 ,the most powerful of all the springs of the disease was contagion2 for in the most distant countries1 which had scarcely yet heard the echo of the first concussion1 the people fell a sacrifice to organic poison1 the untimely offspring of vital energies thrown into violent commotion4 ,after the cessation of the ,black ,plague1 a greater fecundity in women was every where remarkable1 a grand phenomena1 which from its occurrence after every destructive pestilence1 proves to conviction the prevalence of a higher power in the direction of general organic life4 #eg ,in the article ,contagion1 of the ,essay1 ,sweating ,sickness3 ,most fevers which are produced by general causes1 propagate themselves for a time spontaneously4 ,the exhalations of the affected become the germs of a similar decomposition in those bodies which receive them1 and produce in these a like attack upon the internal organs1 and thus a merely morbid phenomenon of life1 shows that it possesses the fundamental property of all life1 that of propagating itself in an appropriate soil4 ,on this point there is no doubt1 the phenomena which prove it have been observed from time immemorial1 in an endless variety of circumstances1 but always with a uniform manifestation of a fundamental law4 ,mead1 in his ,essay on the ,plague1 makes many observations of great interest and worthy a physician of eminence2 and where1 in recent times1 shall we look for any more definite information concerning the causes of pestilences8 ,it is not a little singular that at the time this book was published1 it was read with such avidity that it went through seven editions in one year4#bb ,from this circumstance we may gather that the public generally took a lively and proper interest in a subject that was not only of domestic1 but national importance4 ,whether this interest was stimulated by the fact that the work was written expressly by order of the #eh government1 it is now impossible to say1 at any rate much credit is due to the ,lords of the ,regency for having placed so important a duty upon one so thoroughly and in every way so duly qualified for the task as ,dr4 ,mead4 ,it had been well if some of the advice given at that time1 as means of protection against the ,plague1 had been applied and put in force during the late visitation of epidemic ,cholera1 for1 however the minds of some may be convinced of the non-contagiousness of ,cholera1 there are many who hold a different opinion1 and all will acknowledge1 that if not strictly a contagious affection1 it is clearly proved to be capable of being carried from place to place1 or to use ,dr4 ,copland's words1 it is a portable disease4 ,but this is not the place to discuss the subject of contagion1 allusion will be made to it hereafter4 ,to return1 ,mead's expressions are singularly illustrative of the vital power possessed by the germs of disease2 he says1 ,there are instances of the distemper's being stopt by the winter cold1 and yet the seeds of it not destroyed1 but only kept unactive1 till the warmth of the following spring has given them new life and force4 ,his confession as to the hidden cause of the disease1 is worthy transcribing3 ,we are acquainted too little with the laws1 by which the small parts of matter act upon each other1 to be able precisely to determine the qualities requisite to change animal juices into such acrimonious humours1 or to explain #ei how all the distinguishing symptoms attending the disease are produced4#bc ,on the spread of the ,plague is the following3--,the plague is a real poison1 which being bred in the southern parts of the world1 maintains itself there by circulating from infected persons to goods1 that when the constitution of the air happens to favour infection1 it rages with great violence4 ,contagious matter is lodged in goods of a loose and soft texture1 which being packed up1 and carried into other countries1 let out1 when opened1 the imprisoned seeds of contagion1 and produce the disease whenever the air is disposed to give them force1 otherwise they may be dispersed without any considerable ill effects4 ,gibbon thus speaks of the above quoted work3 ,i have read with pleasure ,mead's short but elegant ,treatise concerning ,pestilential ,disorders2 many also might read it at the present day with infinite advantage4 ,mead most satisfactorily combats the opinions of the ,french physicians who maintained the non-contagiousness of the ,plague4 ,experience proves beyond doubt1 that certain conditions of atmosphere1 of #fj which we are ignorant1 favour the growth and increase of pestilences as they do of all vegetation4 ,dr4 ,bancroft was of opinion that specific contagions are each and severally creatures of ,divine ,wisdom1 as distinctly and designedly exerted for their production1 as it was to create the several species of animals and vegetables around us4 ,the indigenous fever of ,ireland1 which has several times shewn itself in an epidemic form1 appears to have been as fatal1 as the ,plague in the ,south of ,europe4 ,its devastations have generally been associated or preceded by famine and general distress4 ,dr4 ,harty1 writing in #ahbj1 says that thrice within the last eighty years has the same fever appeared in its epidemic character4 ,in the year #agda ,ireland lost #hj1jjj of her inhabitants from this cause4 ,it is a maculated typhus1 and considered to be a special product of the ,emerald ,isle4 ,it has been shewn that fever began to exceed its ordinary rate in those places first where famine and want of employment were most severely felt1#bd and that in such places and under such circumstances1 it was most prevalent and fatal4 ,the physicians generally believed it to have been spontaneously produced and not to have been imported4 ,in the last ,famine ,fever of ,ireland1 ,liverpool and several other places suffered severely from the #fa importation of their ,channel neighbours with the disease in some instances1 and the infection in others about their persons4 ,hitherto these have to all appearance been the limits of the affection2 we know not1 however1 how soon the time may come when the invisible bonds which have thus chained the disease to certain localities may be severed1 and spreading itself like other pestilences in an aggravated form1 attack this country as a last and crowning act of retributive justice4 ,at present it has but cost us money and regrets1 but if the history of pestilences is to be heeded1 there are many tokens which seem to indicate that a few slight concurrent circumstances only are wanting1 to bring the full force of this disease upon us2 then will there be a sacrifice of life4 ,edinburgh and other towns of ,scotland have had some visitations already1 ourselves but slightly1 but let our labouring population suffer to any large extent for want of work1 and we shall inevitably be the sufferers from that fever which in consequence of general destitution is now always more or less prevalent in ,ireland4 ,the ,sweating ,sickness prevailed in ,england alone at first1 but at length sought foreign victims4 ,the ,cholera is an exotic disease1 as well as the ,plague1 but they occasionally have visited our shores1 and their seeds remain among us4 ,the ,small ,pox is now even not known in some parts of the world1 but when once it is established1 who can predict the period of its first appearance in an #fb epidemic form4 ,the history of the disease informs us that in all the countries where it has been introduced1 sooner or later an epidemic has seized the inhabitants4 ,a disease previously unknown in ,india appeared at ,rangoon in the year #ahbd1 which obtained the name of ,scarlatina ,rheumatica4 ,four years afterwards it attacked the ,southern ,states of ,north ,america1 and though the disease was so impartial as scarcely to spare a single individual of any town to which it extended its influence1 it was not accompanied with that mortality which has usually been the characteristic of wide spread epidemics4 ,there is one peculiar feature of all epidemics which may be here mentioned as indicative of some definite1 though at present unaccountable cause1 operating in the sudden suppression of the disease after a certain period of duration4 ,this distinctive character may almost be considered as a law in reference to these affections2 if we take three distinct diseases1 the ,plague1 the ,irish ,fever and the ,cholera1 we find the rule apply to all4 ,of the latter disease we have so recently been witnesses1 that ,i need not quote authorities on this point concerning it4 ,in ,dr4 ,patrick ,russell's work on the ,plague at ,aleppo ,i find the following remarkable passage4 ,after alluding to the great increase of pestilential effluvia that there must be towards the close of an epidemic1 compared with the amount at the onset of the disease1 and expressing his #fc astonishment that so many escape infection1 he says3 ,the fact1 however unaccountable1 is unquestionably certain2 the distemper seems to be extinguished by some cause or causes equally unknown1 as those which concurred to render it more or less epidemical in its advance and at its height4 ,he then mentions that in ,europe the sudden cessation may be partly attributable to the measures adopted for preventing its extension2 but at ,aleppo1 where the disease is left to run its natural course1 and few or no means of purification are employed1 it pursues nearly the same progress in different years2 it declines and revives in certain seasons1 and at length1 without the interference of human aid1 ceases entirely4 ,the expressions of ,dr4 ,harty on this subject1 in connexion with the ,irish ,fever1 would apply as well to all other epidemics3 ,it is a fact1 that though every diversity of management was resorted to for effecting the suppression of the disease1 yet1 nevertheless1 there was an almost simultaneous and apparently spontaneous decline of the epidemic in the various and most remote parts of ,ireland4 ,it is not an easy matter to offer a satisfactory explanation of this circumstance1 some general cause must no doubt have influenced the subsidence of the disease1 yet that cause could not be atmospheric1 inasmuch as the decline1 though it might be said to be simultaneous1 was not sufficiently so to admit of that explanation4 99 99 99 99 99 #fd ,,section ,,iii4 ,,the ,,dispersion ,,of ,,plants ,,and ,,diseases4 ,the dispersion of ,diseases and the dispersion of ,plants1 exhibit analogies which might be little expected1 on a superficial view of the enquiry4 ,we are led to believe1 that the earth as a whole1 was not covered with vegetation in a day1 the geological history of this planet is one of development1 and though at first sight this expression of opinion may appear to savour of doubt in the ,mosaic record1 a more extended acquaintance with the subject1 favours rather and confirms ,scripture history4 ,as the peopling of the earth has been a gradual process with the animal creation1 so has it been also with the vegetable kingdom4 ,we see at the present day1 that plants by various means of transit from place to place1 multiply themselves on new soils and in new climes1 the same with animals4 ,by other means we observe1 or can trace1 the extinction from various localities and countries1 of members of both the animal and vegetable kingdom4 ,we learn that originally this planet had a temperature much higher than at present1 and that the variation of temperature between the equator and the poles1 which we now witness1 did not obtain in the earlier condition of the globe4 ,we are given to understand1 and not without considerable proof1 #fe if not demonstration1 that the earth was a vast bog1 in which rank vegetation grew1 and in which the ichthyosauri and plesiosauri1 must have floundered about as unwieldy and loathsome bodies4 ,we can readily conceive a condition of atmosphere at this time to have been loaded with pestiferous vapours of an organized nature2 it is entirely in accordance with all we know1 that it should have been so4 ,allied forms of plants to those now in existence1 are found in the form of fossils1 by which comparisons are made1 but how the transition into the present ,flora took place1 or at what period1 it is impossible to say4 ,that these plants should have been entirely destroyed during the revolutions of the earth by earthquakes1 and their consequences2 the collection of waters into the vacuities formed1 and their draining off from other places by elevations of the land1 is not to be dwelt on without astonishment2 then again the ultimate changes of temperature on the surface of the earth1 may have been another element in the history of their extinction4 ,but if we may be allowed to imagine that there were organic germs floating in the vapours of the atmosphere1 these would hardly be subject to the same influences as those which depended solely on their fixation to the soil for subsistence4 ,the atmosphere1 their native element1 being influenced by the commotions from below1 would be agitated2 vortiginous currents would be established1 hurricanes would sweep over the stagnant pool and reeking morass1 #ff and the higher regions of the air might have thus given protection to these subtle germs1 while almost a total extinction of the elegant ferns1 the stately palm1 and the towering cane was in course of procedure4 ,then when the strife of the earth and elements had subsided1 these would descend with the gentle breezes1 and again find in various spots a local habitation-- ,where blue mists1 through the unmoving atmosphere1 ,scatter the seeds of pestilence and feed unnatural vegetation4 ,in the new era1 when the earth took its present physiognomy1 who shall say whether much of the pestiferous matter may not have been enclosed and condensed in the bowels of the earth1 and when it is remembered1 that earthquakes and convulsions of nature1#be have invariably preceded the outbreak of #fg any great pestilences1 that stinking mists1 coming from some unknown regions1 and unusual vegetations have made their appearance in concert at these times1 what ,i ask is more natural than to imagine1 that they have been let loose during the general convulsion8 ,it may be asked1 what is to be said about that revolution of the earth1 when the great ,deluge spread over the whole face of the globe8 ,it can only be replied1 that this is a part of the scheme of cosmogony into which we are not called upon to enter4 ,there are yet strenuous supporters of the partial as well as total submersion of this planet1 but whether it be true that the vast torrents which appear to have swept the surface uniformly in a southern direction1 were of a date coeval with the deluge1 and constituted an essential portion of the phenomena1 of which one was1 that the fountains of the great deep were broken up1 or whether they were anterior to this catastrophe1 will not at all interfere with the conjecture of a very early formation and propagation of the germs of pestilential diseases1 for the commotions of a deluge were less likely to interfere with the vapours of the atmosphere1 than extensive volcanic and electric disturbances4 ,moreover1 it is rather in favour of this theory1 that the #fh regions where the temperature and exhalations most nearly resemble those of the former condition of the earth1 are those in which pestilential disorders most frequently arise1 and where their virulence has always been most strongly marked4 ,after the various commotions which left the globe1 with its present physiognomy of mountains1 plains1 valleys1 rivers1 lakes1 and oceans2 a new ,flora and ,fauna appeared to adorn and animate the scene of man's existence4 ,plants and animals were created apparently in adaptation to the numerous climes1 which the seasons in the various latitudes or the elevations of the soil1 were prepared to render fruitful and useful each in its own sphere4 ,besides this1 the plants of the same latitude1 in some instances1 differ materially from each other2 in this case it seems that the soil has much to do with this peculiarity1 for it is certain that the soil and the contiguous atmosphere1 have a close and intimate relation2 the drought of the desert depends upon the sand1 as humid atmosphere is connected with the morass4 ,to illustrate the tendency which vegetation shews in appropriating one locality more than another1 ,i may quote the following3 ,some of the volcanic masses of the ,aeolian or ,lipari ,islands1 that have existed beyond the reach of history1 are still without a blade of verdure2 while others in various parts1 of little more than two hundred years date1 bear spontaneous vegetation1 and the same is seen on two lavas of ,etna near each other1 for the one #fi of #aecf is still black and arid1 while that of #afcf1 is covered with oaks1 fruit trees1 and vines4 ,in comparing the diffusion of plants1 and the diffusion of diseases1 the different modes by which this generally has been effected may be considered under heads1 that the comparison may be more readily traced4 ,first1 seeds are diffused by the atmosphere1 either by the prevalence of certain currents1 which are produced by known laws1 in which case1 no difficulty occurs in the explanations2 or in a more imperceptible manner1 as by those more uncertain atmospheric currents of a partial nature1 which1 though they seem to have laws governing them1 are not yet understood4 ,second1 seeds are transported by water across oceans1 c4 when they can be floated on any material by which they are preserved1 as by wrecks and masses of wood1 which have been washed down the rivers4 ,third1 they are conveyed by man to all parts of the globe4 ,fourth1 a period of latency is observed to apply to them1 that is1 they require certain essential conditions before germination occurs2 so that even in some localities1 a plant may not have been known to exist in a particular neighbourhood1 but by a train of circumstances1 it may make its appearance1 and again be a centre of development4 #ast4 ,i shall not here wander into the speculation1 #gj whether plants had originally one birth-place1 as a centre from which they spread by various agencies1 as supposed by ,linnaeus1 nor into any enquiry beyond those facts1 which may fairly come within our own comprehension1 and within our own means of demonstration4 ,many seeds are provided with means adapting them for floating in the atmosphere1 these are by pappi1 or winglets and hairs1 but it cannot be doubted that the agency of atmospheric currents1 is productive of considerable effects in the dispersion of lighter seeds1 such as those of mosses1 fungi1 and lichens--lichens have been discovered in ,brittany1 which are peculiar to ,jamaica1 and ,monsieur ,de ,candolle concludes1 that their seeds had been carried thence by the south-westerly winds1 which prevail during a great part of the year on this portion of the ,french coast4 ,but ,humboldt's testimony on the subject of winds is most satisfactory1 for he says1 ,small singing birds1 and even butterflies1 are found at sea1 at great distances from the coast 7as ,i have several times had opportunities of observing in the ,pacific71 being carried there by the force of the wind1 when storms come off the land4 ,it is generally believed1 from abundance of proofs1 that the trade winds1 and other continuous currents1 are means by which plants are conveyed from one country to another4#bf #ga ,as to the partial currents1 ,humboldt further says1 ,the heated crust of the earth occasions an ascending vertical current of air by which light bodies are borne upwards4 ,m4 ,boussingault1 and ,don ,mariano ,de ,rivero1 in ascending the summit of the ,silla1 one of the gneiss mountains of ,caraccas1 saw in the middle of the day1 about noon1 whitish shining bodies rise from the valley to the summit of the mountain1 #egee feet high1 and then sink down towards the neighbouring sea coast4 ,these movements continued uninterruptedly for the space of an hour4 ,the whitish shining bodies proved to be small agglomerations of straws1 or blades of grass1 which were recognized by ,professor ,kunth1 for a species of vilfa1 a genus1 which together with agrostis1 is very abundant in the provinces of ,caraccas and ,cumana4 ,on the plague of locusts we read1 that the ,lord brought an east wind upon the land1 all that day and all that night1 and when it was morning the east wind brought the locusts4 ,on the ,black ,death we read1 ,there were many locusts which had been blown into the sea by a hurricane1 and a dense and awful fog was seen in the heavens1 rising in the east1 and descending upon ,italy4 ,of the ,plague of #edb1 ,gibbon says1 ,the winds might diffuse that subtle venom1 but unless the atmosphere be previously disposed for its reception1 the plague would soon expire in the cold or #gb temperate regions of the north4 ,the disease alternately languished and revived1 but it was not till a calamitous period of fifty-two years1 that mankind recovered their health1 or the air resumed its pure and salubrious quality4 ,in the history of the ,sweating ,sickness1 of which there were five distinct visitations1 we find ample allusions to the atmosphere1 and the mode in which the disease was conveyed by this medium4 ,i quote again from ,hecker3 ,it seemed that the banks of the ,severn were the focus of the malady1 and that from hence1 a true impestation of the atmosphere1 was diffused in every direction4 ,whithersoever the winds wafted the stinking mists1 the inhabitants became infested with the sweating sickness4 ,these poisonous clouds of mists were observed moving from place to place1 with the disease in their train1 affecting one town after another1 and morning and evening spreading their nauseating insufferable stench4 ,at greater distances1 these clouds being dispersed by the wind1 became gradually attenuated yet their dispersion set no bounds to the pestilence1 and it was as if they had imparted to the lower strata of the atmosphere1 a kind of ferment which went on engendering itself even without the presence of the thick misty vapour1 and being received into men's lungs1 produced the frightful disease everywhere4#bg #gc ,mr4 ,k4 ,b4 ,martin1 harbour-master of ,ramsgate1 in a communication to ,lord ,carlisle on the ,cholera of last autumn1 says1 ,at midnight of the #cast ,august 7#ahdi71 the ,samson 7steam-tug7 proceeded to the ,goodwin ,sands1 where the crew were employed under the ,trinity agent1 assisting in work carried on there by that corporation4 ,while there1 at #c ,a4,m4 #ast ,september1 a hot humid haze1 with a bog-like smell1 passed over them2 and the greater number of the men there employed instantly felt a nausea4 ,they were in two parties4 ,one man at work on the sand was obliged to be carried to the boat2 and before they reached the steam vessel at anchor1 the cramps and spasm had supervened upon the vomitings2 but here they found two of the party on board similarly affected4 ,here then is a very marked case without any known predisposing local cause4 ,doubtless it was atmospheric1 and in the hot blast of pestilence which passed over them4 ,many more instances might be quoted1 to shew that the germs of disease1 as well as of plants1 are borne on the wings of the wind from place to place #gd in one country1 and from one country to another1 the distance being no obstacle1 however great that may be4#bh ,dust and sands1 says ,sharon ,turner1 heavier than many seeds1 are borne by the winds and clouds for several hundred miles across the atmosphere1 falling on the earth and seas as they pass along4 ,the clouds not only bring us occasionally meteoric stones1 hail1 and epidemics1 but also vegetable seeds4#bi #bnd4 ,the transportation of seeds of plants by water requires very little notice2 every one is familiar with the mode in which coral islands1 which gradually rise out of the sea1 become covered with vegetation4 ,if new lands are formed1 the organic forces are ever ready to cover the naked rock with life4--,lichens form the first covering of the barren #ge rocks1 where afterwards lofty forest trees wave their airy summits4 ,the successive growth of mosses1 grasses1 herbaceous plants and shrubs or bushes1 occupies the intervening period of long but undetermined duration4 ,the following may be cited as an instance of the transportation of disease by water4 ,cyprus lost almost all its inhabitants1 and ships without crews were often seen in the ,mediterranean1 or afterwards in the ,north ,sea1 driving about1 and spreading the plague wherever they went on shore4#cj ,it requires no argument to enforce the conviction that cottons1 woollens1 furs1 skins1 c4 will retain the matter of infection for almost an indefinite period2 instances of the kind have been already given2 it is therefore easy to understand that portions of wrecks and ship's goods would be a frequent though unsuspected source of infection4 ,dr4 ,halley mentions a case1 in which a bale of cotton was put on shore at ,bermuda by stealth2 it lay above a month without prejudice1 where it was hid1 but when opened and distributed among the inhabitants1 it produced such a contagion that the living scarce sufficed to bury the dead4 ,dr4 ,walker found seeds dropt accidentally into the sea in the ,west ,indies cast ashore on the ,hebrides4 ,he says1 the sea and rivers waft more seed than sails4 ,the waters of many rivers induce diarrhoea and dysentery4#ca ,well water also in many #gf places has a similar effect1 especially if any surface drainage happens to find its way into the well4 #crd4 ,the part performed by man himself in the communication of disease to his fellow creatures1 is perhaps the most fruitful source of the extensive spread of epidemic and contagious diseases4 ,in the time of ,moses1 restrictions were laid on those who had the plague of the leprosy to avoid contagion2 the dictum for one so affected was1 he shall dwell alone2 without the camp shall his habitation be4#cb ,all the ancient authors believed in the #gg infectious nature of pestilential fevers1 and some other diseases2 but1 according4 to ,mr4 ,adams1 they held that no specific virus was the cause1 and merely a contamination of the surrounding air by effluvia from the sick4 ,thucydides1 ,hippocrates1 ,procopius1 ,galen1 ,plutarch1 all recognized the property of communicability from one individual to another of the plague2 and ,hecker1 on the epidemics of the middle ages1 abounds with instances in support of contagion4 ,as regards small-pox and measles1 ,rhazes observes particularly the connection that exists between the condition of the air and the severity or mildness of these diseases1 remarking that small-pox seldom happens to old men1 except in pestilential1 putrid1 and malignant constitutions of the air in which this disease is usually prevalent4 ,the history of the introduction of ,scarlet ,fever1 ,hooping ,cough1 ,lues1 and other diseases into the various countries of the globe1 is sufficiently convincing that men carry about with them the seeds of disease2 that while these attach themselves to the persons and clothing of those who introduce them into new climes1 and flourish independently of cultivation1 yet the exotics which they foster with so much care1 often disappoint their most sanguine expectations2 and these languishing in our #gh hothouses can give but a very faint idea of the majestic vegetation of the tropical zone4 ,art in this procedure fails to accomplish here1 what nature but too sadly1 under some circumstances1 effects most readily4 ,the germs of some diseases though of an exotic character1 under congenial influences of various kinds1 appear to flourish with native vigour3 is it not so1 also1 with some forms of vegetation8 ,the aloe1 a native of ,mexico1 which lives1 but does not thrive well1 or reproduce under ordinary circumstances in this country1 will occasionally send forth a most luxuriant blossom2#cc so rare is this1 that some say it occurs every #ej or #ajj years1 but no law seems to be established on this point1 any more than the statement that we may expect pestilential diseases at certain intervals4 ,but that there are intervals of uncertain duration when the aloe will blossom1 when the grapes will ripen1 and a general productiveness of exotics will occur1 is as certain as that seasons will occur when contagion will be rife1 and a most unusual multiplication of disease prevail4 ,this is not an imaginary or speculative notion1--all observers of seasons and diseases within the last twenty years1 may fully verify the statement4 ,in #ahdf1 a large vine1 the black ,hambro-grape1 #gi ripened its fruit out of doors1 and was as fine as any green-house production2 but during nine years that the vine has been under my inspection1 this was the only time ,i have witnessed such a result4 ,we are apt to attribute an abundant or scarce fruit season to temperature alone1 but this is an error--for we have before remarked1 that though certain lands may be in the same degree of latitude1 the plants which thrive well on one land1 will not do so on the other3 in fine1 that where reason and analogy would lead one to expect a particular form of vegetation1 a totally different ,flora is presented to the view4 ,these facts are indeed suggestive of new and important deductions4 ,is it yet explained why the town of ,birmingham should be free from ,cholera8 ,there is a large manufacturing population1 a great number of poor1 the usual overcrowding of individuals in small chambers1 a considerable amount of destitution and depravity2 irregular habits of living1 and unwholesome diet1 and doubtless many parts of the town1 which on investigation would have yielded all the elements usually considered necessary for the localization of the disease3 but no--here was some repelling cause1 some opposing agent to the generation and propagation of the pestilential seeds4 ,there are no known laws by which inorganic matter could be supposed to observe such a selection1 or such an antagonism4 ,electricity1 magnetism1 ozone1 gases1 exhibit no such elective properties that here they will destroy1 and #hj there they will spare2 that they can almost depopulate small villages1 and scarcely find a victim in ,birmingham and ,bath4 ,but if we suppose a living1 and multiplying matter as the cause of disease1 many local causes may conspire to arrest the development of the germs1 or perhaps1 even utterly destroy them4 #dth4 ,as to the time of latency1 facts crowd upon us indefinitely1 as elements of comparison between vegetation generally1 and disease in its early stages and history4 ,the seeds of plants are extraordinarily tenacious of life4 ,what a mysterious arrangement of the ultimate particles of matter must there be1 by which the vital force remains apparently inactive for many years1 and yet when the conditions arise favourable to its manifestation1 as it were by an extraordinary fiat1 life appears4 ,previous to the year #agae1 no broom grew in the ,king's ,park1 at ,stirling2 but in that year a camp was formed there1 and the surface of the ground consequently was broken in many places4 ,wherever it was broken1 broom sprang up4 ,the plant was subsequently destroyed2 but in #agde a similar growth appeared after the ground had been again broken for a like purpose4 ,some time afterwards the park was ploughed up1 and the broom became generally spread over it4 ,in several places in the neighbourhood of ,edinburgh1 says ,professor ,graham1 the breaking of the surface produces an abundant crop of ,fumaria parviflora1 #ha although the same plant had never before been observed in the neighbourhood4 ,it is impossible to say the lapse of time since these were buried1 before they were again excited to the performance of all their vital functions4 ,dr4 ,graham also gives another proof of the vital force existing in seeds4 ,to the westward of ,stirling there is a large peat bog1 a great part of which has been flooded away by raising water from the ,river ,teith1 and discharging it into the ,forth1--the under soil of clay being then cultivated4 ,the clergyman of the parish standing by while the workmen were forming a ditch in this clay1 which had been covered with fourteen feet of peat earth1 saw some seeds in the clay which was thrown out of the ditch2 he took some of them up and sowed them3 they germinated and produced a crop of ,chrysanthemum septum4 ,what a period of years must have elapsed while the seeds were getting their covering of clay1 and while this clay became buried under fourteen feet of peat earth6#cd #hb ,what limit can there be to the dispersion of seeds when their vital properties may remain so long unimpaired8 ,the seeds of which we have been speaking were1 no doubt many of them1 washed away with the waters of the ,teith1 and carried by the stream into the ,forth2 and who shall then mark their destination2 for we have seen that by such means the most distant lands are supplied with vegetation2 for whence come the plants which cover the ,coral ,islands1 unless by the air and the water1 and that both contribute1 has been incontestably proved4 ,dr4 ,lindley states that melon seeds have been known to grow when forty-one years old2 maize thirty years1 rye forty years1 the sensitive plant sixty years1 kidney-beans a hundred years4 ,but seeds in general have an indefinite period1 apparently1 at which they can retain their power of germination2 for many of the seeds which had been kept in the herbarium of ,tournefort for more than a century1 were found to have preserved their fertility4 ,it has now to be shewn that the germs of disease also retain their vital powers in a state of dormancy during a lengthened period4 #hc ,mead has very judiciously observed1 to breed a distemper1 and to give force to it when bred1 are two different things4 ,he further remarks1 that the seeds of the ,plague may confine themselves to a house or two during a hard frosty winter1 and be preserved1 and again put forth their malignant quality as soon as the warmth of the spring gives them force4 ,it is certainly very remarkable that the ,plague of ,london1 which commenced at the latter end of the year #affd1 should lie asleep1 as ,mead says1 from ,christmas to the middle of ,february1 and then break out in the same parish4 ,it has been also known that an infected bed laid by for seven years had done infinite mischief on being again brought into use4 ,indeed1 it is quite uncertain for how long a period woollen1 fur1 linen1 cotton1 and other articles may retain infectious matter in a dormant state4 ,it has been supposed by some that in closely packed bed and body clothes a multiplication of the germs may and does take place1 nor do ,i see any reason why this should not be the case1 for these articles contain within their structure the effluvia of the animal body1 and they may possibly there find sufficient nutriment for their development4 ,nees von ,esenbeck believed that some of the minute ,cryptogamia were re-produced in the air1 we are not therefore exceeding philosophical conjecture when we imagine a basis and substratum1 though an unusual one1 for the germs of vegetation4 ,exclusion from air and light1 #hd however1 as would be the case in packed-up clothes1 would a priori give a better colour to the conjecture1 as these are the usual conditions necessary for the growth of seeds4 ,small ,pox and ,cow ,pox matter1 which are now proved to be the same virus1 the former modified by having been through a process of growth and maturation in the cow1 are both remarkable for exhibiting their active properties after having lain dormant for a considerable time4 ,and each1 though so closely allied1 retaining its specific properties4 ,this peculiarity in the history of ,small ,pox virus suggests a comparison with some phenomena of vegetation1 viz4 that of grafting or budding4 ,the lower ,cryptogamia in their fructifications resemble rather multiplication by buds than by seeds4 ,m4 ,moyen's idea is that every spore or little globule1 independently of its neighbouring one1 lives1 absorbs1 assimilates1 grows1 and re-produces on its own account2 this is certainly the characteristic of the ,torula and the ,uredo1 and doubtless is so of many other of the ,cryptogamia1 the ,protococcus nivalis is another instance4 ,other modes of cultivation produce also great varieties of results of an unexpected kind4 ,would any one1 says ,dr4 ,walker1 imagine that cabbage1 cauliflower1 savoy1 kale1 brocoli1 and turnip-rooted cabbage1 were the same species8 yet nothing is more certain than that they are only varieties produced by the cultivation of the ,brassica oleracea1 #he a plant which grows wild on the sea-shores of ,europe4 ,these varieties in vegetables have now become permanent1 and though it is supposed that each is liable to return to its original condition1 ,i am not yet certain that such is the tendency4 ,a deterioration is not unlikely to ensue in the course of time1 because the propagation by seeds must necessarily very much approach the system of intermarriage1 on which ,mr4 ,walker has so ably written and clearly shewn that as a result we may invariably expect a deterioration of the species4 ,dr4 ,darwin has also poetically described what his experience taught him4 ,so grafted trees with shadowy summits rise1 ,spread their fair blossoms and perfume the skies1 ,till canker taints the vegetable blood1 ,mines round the bark and feeds upon the wood2 ,so years successive from perennial roots1 ,the wire or bulb with lessened vigour shoots1 ,till curled leaves or barren flowers betray ,a waning lineage verging to decay2 ,or till amended by connubial powers1 ,rise seedling progenies from sexual flowers4 ,the minute nature of the germs of disease preclude all possibility of their being submitted1 as far as we know at present1 to the inspection of the physiologist1 but we may infer many facts from results4 ,in the same way1 though with humbler #hf ideas1 as ,cuvier could build up an animal from a single bone1 can we by a combination of facts infer the existence of living beings and conjecture their forms4 ,the re-production or generation of living organized bodies is the great criterion or characteristic which distinguishes animation from mechanism4 ,we find the virus of ,small ,pox1 according to ,mr4 ,ceely's experiments1 developing itself as a constitutional disease upon the cow1 and becoming modified into a form known as the ,cow ,pox2 this resembles the process of cultivation by which a species is converted into a variety1 this variety remains for a certain time persistent2 the time is not yet known1 but it is known that by degrees1 as stated above1 a deterioration occurs1 and fertility becomes impaired1 a waning lineage verging to decay1 and this has been observed as a feature in the result of vaccination4 ,i believe ,dr4 ,gregory was one of the first to notice this fact1 and deemed it necessary to obtain fresh lymph from the cow2 this has been done1 and it is not improbable1 if the analogy we have drawn be correct1 that the slowly spreading scepticism regarding vaccination may be arrested in its progress4 ,if we can explain the deterioration of cow pox virus on this principle we have a hold at once upon the public1 and can assure them that the efficacy of the proceeding is as certain as in the time of ,jenner4 ,the people1 ,i contend1 have a right to demand of us the reason why vaccination is not so efficacious as formerly1 and ,i #hg affirm as unhesitatingly that we are bound to give the subject our most earnest attention4#ce ,now concerning the re-production of ,cow ,pox matter1 and assuming it to resemble that of the lower ,cryptogamia1 we can easily understand how degeneration in a course of years should ensue1 for we find that though the ,small ,pox is a constitutional disease1 that produced by vaccine lymph is a local affection1 so that it bears the relation that grafting does to vegetation1 and it is not improbable that such a modification takes place in the germs by passing through or becoming generated in the blood of the cow1 that they entirely lose their original and characteristic form of reproduction3 the seeds of the disease were originally capable of vegetating1 if ,i may be allowed to use the term1 by diffusion through the atmosphere2 they now1 however1 have lost that property1 and require to be grafted to exhibit any manifestation of vitality4 ,how often will the seeds of a cultivated fruit grow8 ,if you bud it upon another plant1 you obtain a being exactly like the parent1 but this1 as we have seen1 deteriorates in a course of years1 we have also seen that the virus deteriorates2 but not to stretch this point to an unseemly length1 ,i cannot avoid expressing my conviction1 that these are elements of comparison1 possessing an interest and a practical utility of no small value4 #hh ,i have before said1 that the reproduction in the ,cryptogamia1 rather resembles budding than seeding4 ,if we observe the ,torula1 or take the process of all formation1 generally it will be found to accord more exactly with the budding than the seeding process1 and this peculiarity is not confined to vegetation1 it is also a marked feature in the reproduction of infusoria1 sponges1 polypes1 c4 ,new buds surround the microscopic plant4 ,the reproduction of plants and animals appears to be of two kinds1 solitary and sexual2 the former occurs in the formation of the buds of trees1 and the bulbs of tulips4 ,the microscopic productions of spontaneous vitality propagate by solitary generation only4 ,we have but reached the threshold of this vast and interesting subject1 the experiments which suggest themselves to the mind while reflecting upon it1 would alone occupy a whole life of leisure1 and ,i can but feel how forcibly ,mr4 ,sewell's words apply to us3 ,the grand field of investigation lies immediately before us1 we are trampling every hour upon things which to the ignorant seem nothing but dirt1 but to the curious are precious as gold4 ,it is difficult1 perhaps1 to bring many instances1 in which the germs of disease have lain dormant for a lengthened period1 because many may take exception to them1 from the fact1 that sporadic cases of #hi most epidemic and infectious diseases1 are rarely absent from any country in which those diseases have become indigenous1 and these cases may be said to be the foci whence originates the epidemic constitution of the air2 this1 however1 would not invalidate the supposition1 because one of two inferences must be drawn1 either that the germs of disease always exist in a dormant state1 requiring circumstances and conditions only for their development1 or that the germs are imported from some distant locality1 where the disease has occurred1 and finding a nidus there1 grow and multiply4#cf ,whichever notion we take1 however1 matters very little to the fact of the dormancy of the germs1 for in both1 a certain period elapses between their transmission and their propagation4 ,it may fairly be presumed1 that sometimes one method may apply #ij and sometimes the other1 perhaps both during general epidemic conditions of the atmosphere4 ,the ,oidium vitis attacked the vines partially last year1 and ,i believe generally spared other forms of vegetation2 but this year in my vicinity1 cucumbers1 melons1 and vegetable marrows1 are all suffering more or less under the disease4#cg ,how shall we say1 whether are the seeds of last year the cause of the general diffusion at the present time1 or were there a sufficient number of old and dormant seeds1 universally diffused1 and only waiting opportunities for multiplying themselves8 ,we are here on the horns of a dilemma2 and spontaneous generation1 from which one naturally shrinks1 can alone extricate us1 if we do not admit diffusion and dormancy4 ,i think ,i may1 without undue assumption1 affirm that a period of latency of indefinite duration1 applies as cogently to the germs of disease as to those of plants4 ,there is yet one other point in connection with this subject1 and that is the apparent extinction of some diseases1 at any rate their non-appearance in certain localities1 which had been at one time congenial to them1 and in which they flourished4 ,we have seen1 in illustrating the dormancy of seeds1 that the broom must have been a common plant at #ia some considerable period back1 in the ,king's ,park at ,stirling1 or on that site4 ,then again1 the appearance of ,fumaria parviflora in the vicinity of ,edinburgh1 in several places where the ground is broken1 is sufficiently convincing that this plant must once have been a common form of vegetation there2 and as it had never before been observed in the neighbourhood1 there must have been a combination of peculiar circumstances capable of rendering germination impossible1 otherwise a continued multiplication1 as in other forms of vegetation1 would have followed of necessity4 ,but besides these instances1 how many are passing under our own eyes of the disappearance of plants under the influence of cultivation1 and the generation of the noxious fumes arising from different and innumerable manufactories4 ,in the vicinity of large cities and manufacturing towns1 how rarely do we see healthy vegetation2 shrubs and animals drag on a sickly and almost unprolific existence1 and their term of natural life is much shortened4 ,and if we compare diseases with this peculiar feature of vegetation1 how very close do we find the analogies4 ,the ,sweating ,sickness which appeared in the latter part of the fifteenth century1 and at certain intervals multiplied and extended itself at first only in this country1 but ultimately more or less over the continent of ,europe1 has #ib never since the year #aeea shewn any symptom of productiveness1 indeed for all we know the disease may be extinct2 on the other hand1 it is impossible to say whether or not circumstances may arise1 under which it may commence again1 to put forth its energies and again desolate the land4#ch ,since #affe1 the ,bubo-plague has not found a congenial soil in this country1 or if the seeds be here1 which is more than probable1 the necessary conditions to excite them to activity do not exist4 ,it cannot be imagined that with all the merchandize which comes into this country from the ,mediterranean1 but that an abundance of the germs of the disease are annually brought into our ports1 and disseminated throughout the land4 ,the law by which we have seen that they possess a power of vitality and reproduction1 holds now as it did in former times2--the properties of matter never alter1 but the conditions under which they exist may be so modified1 as to influence their properties1 and the usual course of their operations4 ,it is therefore to #ic an alteration or modification of conditions that we are to look for the exemption1 during the last two centuries1 from an invasion of the ,plague4 ,to say what those conditions may be in their totality is difficult1 perhaps impossible4 ,we may generalize on the subject1 and imagine the reason discovered1 but all those causes which were said to have conspired to favour the spread and contamination with ,plague1 were as distinctly specified and attributed1 as the cause of our late infliction with ,epidemic ,cholera4 ,why then did we have the ,cholera and not the ,plague8 ,to what particular element was it--in the mode of living1 of destitution1 of filth and want of drainage--can it be ascribed that we suffer under one disease1 and not under the other8 ,we have made some few observations and comparisons on the mode of dispersion of plants and diseases1--but there is yet one more point which invites notice4 ,not only do seasons vary in their effects on vegetation in a remarkable and unexplained manner1 but there are many localities to which some special form of vegetation attaches1 and which appear to have a power of exclusion of other forms2 and as yet ,i have not been able to trace the connexion1 nor can ,i discover it in the writings of botanists and travellers1 who would be most likely to have sought an explanation of so interesting and curious a fact4 ,dr4 ,prichard has on this subject some very apposite illustrations4 ,still further southward1 the austral temperated zone completely #id changes the physiognomy of vegetation1 and the ,isle of ,norfolk has1 in common with ,new ,holland1 the ,auracania found also in the harbour of ,balade1 and with ,new ,zealand1 the ,phormium tenax4 ,it is however remarkable1 that this vast island1 composed of two lands1 separated by a channel1 though so near ,new ,holland1 and lying under the same latitude1 differs from it so completely1 that they display no resemblance in their vegetation4 ,yet ,new ,zealand1 so rich in genera peculiar to its soil1 and little known1 has some ,indian plants3 such as ,pepper1 the ,olea1 and a reniform ,fern1 which is said to exist in the ,isle of ,maurice4 ,i must quote one more passage from ,dr4 ,prichard's excellent work4 ,we have one instance of an island at no great distance from a continent1 having a peculiar vegetation4 ,mr4 ,r4 ,brown has remarked1 that there is not even a single indigenous species characterising the vegetation of ,st4 ,helena1 that has been found either on the banks of the ,congo1 or on any other part of the ,western coast of ,africa4 ,does the diversity of marine and atmospheric currents more completely separate this island from the continent1 than its situation would imply2 or are the nature of soil and other local circumstances1 the cause of so marked a diversity8 ,the last supposition seems the most probable2 because not only the species of plants1 but likewise the genera in ,st4 ,helena1 are different from those of the ,african coast4 #ie ,we are not without instances of diseases1 observing this peculiarity which attaches to plants2 but their specific characters have hardly been sufficiently considered in reference to climate and situation1 together with diet and local influences1 to afford us accurate data for comparison4 ,it has1 however1 been remarked1 in every country where ,epidemics have prevailed1 that some districts or tracts of country1 though supposed to possess all the qualities favourable to the development of the diseases1 have nevertheless been entirely or nearly free from them4 ,the following passage on the course of the ,cholera gives an example of this peculiarity4 ,whenever the malady deviated1 so to speak1 from its normal direction1 and passed towards the west1 it seemed incapable of propagating itself2 and died away spontaneously1 even in places which appeared to be well fitted for its reception4--,the rich fertile and densely peopled countries to the right of the ,dneiper1 enjoyed an equal freedom from attack1 which can only be explained by the fact that they were situated beyond the line of the disease4 ,with this ,i close the subject of the diffusion of plants and diseases1 though it would require a volume of itself1 to record all that has been noticed4 ,i have endeavoured to select such instances as shall mark distinctly the features which point to comparison without overloading the enquiry4 99 99 99 99 99 #if ,,section ,,iv4 ,,the ,,relation ,,between ,,epidemic ,,and ,,endemic ,,diseases4 ,epidemic diseases1 which multiply their germs in any climate1 and under apparently the most varying conditions of temperature and hygrometric and electrical states of atmosphere1 offer many points of contrast with ,endemic affections1 and many of relationship4 ,the latter are traceable to a certain extent1 to geological and geographical positions of the localities where they are observed to prevail1 in combination with atmospheric vicissitudes and peculiarities1 as well as to extent of cultivation of the soil3 it has been remarked that the sickly island 7as it is called7 of ,st4 ,lucia has certain salubrious parts1 but these are where sulphur abounds2 this geological peculiarity has been deemed sufficient to account for the absence of endemic affections in these parts1 and with much force of reason2 for in the neighbourhoods where sulphur or sulphurous acid1 a compound of sulphur1 is an element prevalent in the soil or atmosphere1 vegetation and the ague disappear together4 ,now ague1 and other endemic fevers1 doubtless originate from some allied1 if not identical cause2 for the localities in which they appear have so many #ig features in common1 that we are constrained to acknowledge that endemic fevers have some relations and analogies1 though not yet unravelled4 ,geographical situation1 together with certain vegetation1 particularly of grounds which grow rice1 is one remarkable for the production of endemic affections4 ,but the soil which generates or gives force to the contaminating matter1 is not alone the part where human beings feel its influence most severely4 ,a low marshy ground1 prolific of malaria1 may be comparatively free2 while some neighbouring elevated land1 to which prevailing currents of air waft the volatile elements of disease1 may be desolated by their virulent and concentrated action4 ,malaria may be conveyed a considerable distance from its source1 and be condensed in the exhaled vapour1 when attracted by hills or acclivities in the vicinity1 and when there are no high trees or woods to confine it1 or to intercept it in its passage4 ,the inhabitants of the city of ,abydos were at one time subject to disease1 arising from malaria1 generated in some neighbouring marshes2 by draining these marshes1 which suspended the growth of rank vegetation1 the city became healthy4 ,rome is in like manner even now subject to fevers1 having a similar origin4 ,sir ,james ,clark says1 ,among the more prevalent diseases of ,rome1 malaria fevers are the most remarkable1 and claim our first notice4 ,he considers the fevers to be of exactly the same nature as those of ,lincolnshire #ih and ,essex in this country1 of ,holland1 and certain districts over the greater part of the globe4 ,to the climate1 the season1 or the concentration of the cause of these fevers1 he attributes their varieties4 ,it is the same disease1 he says1 whether from the swamps of ,walcheren1 or the pestilential shores of ,africa4 ,from ,july to ,october the inhabitants of ,rome are most subject to these affections4 ,sir ,james ,clark further says3 ,it may be stated as a general rule1 that houses in confined shaded situations1 with damp courts or gardens1 or standing water close to them1 are unhealthy in every climate and season2 but especially in a country subject to intermittent fevers1 and during summer and autumn4 ,the exemption of the central parts of a large town from these fevers1 is explained by the dryness of the atmosphere1 and by the comparative equality of temperature which prevails there4 ,in this respect there is a marked difference between an epidemic and an endemic affection2 for when an epidemic disease attacks a city or town we do not discover that the central parts are more exempt than others2 indeed1 it is rather the contrary2 for the most crowded parts of towns and cities are those1 if not exactly in the centre1 which would be comprised in a space nearer to the centre than the circumference2 and it has been in those parts generally where the epidemic influences seem to have exercised the most potent sway4 ,one would more naturally suppose1 that a city surrounded by #ii paludal miasm1 and not itself being capable of generating the poison1 should be more affected at the circumference1 from the simple fact that the paludal germs1 which rise in the air1 are suspended in the fogs and dews of the atmosphere4 ,these1 unless widely dispersed by the winds1 would remain within a comparatively confined space2 and those situations nearest to them would be most subject to their influence4 ,besides1 it has been shewn1 that a small wood or hill1 or even a wall1 has been sufficient to cut off or obstruct the paludal miasm4 ,without enumerating all the known endemic diseases1 two or three may be alluded to for our present purpose2 viz4 that of shewing that endemic and epidemic diseases have a similar origin4#ci ,it is well known that under certain favouring conditions an endemic may become a malignant and pestilential disease2 that ,yellow ,fever1 which is always endemic in the west1 ,cholera in the east1 and the ,plague in the south of ,europe and north of ,africa1 every few years takes on an epidemic form1 and desolates considerable tracts of country4#ci ,the ,pestilence which raged in the summer and autumn of #ahjd in ,spain1 commenced at ,malaga1 and remained for a considerable time confined to its #ajj boundaries1 in consequence of the measures of precaution that were used1 in preventing all communication between the inhabitants of the infected city and those living in the surrounding country4 ,it was only in consequence of persons escaping through the cordon1 and passing into the interior of the country1 that the disease spread1 and extended its ravages to distant places4 ,it appears to be quite clear1 that this disease may properly be considered in the first instance of endemic origin2 but the tendencies1 atmospheric and otherwise1 were such as to favour its multiplication in other districts than that in which it first came into active existence4 ,from this we may infer1 that the seeds of the disease were dormant1 and only became roused into vital activity by fortuitous circumstances4 ,dr4 ,rush states1 that the endemic disorders of ,pennsylvania were converted1 by clearing the soil1 to bilious and malignant remittents1 and to destructive epidemics4 ,dr4 ,copland says1 it has been observed1 especially in warm climates1 and in hot seasons in temperate countries1 that when the air has been long undisturbed by high winds and thunder-storms1 and at the same time hot and moist1 endemic diseases have assumed a very severe and even epidemic character4 ,dr4 ,robertson also confirms this view4 ,endemic diseases1 in cases of neglect and preposterous management1 are found to become more malignant even in the most temperate climates2 and to #aja generate a matter in their course1 capable of producing a particular disease in any circumstances4 ,indeed the origin of every contagious fever unattended with eruptions1 with the exception of ,plague1 must commence in this way4 ,why ,dr4 ,robertson should except eruptive ,fevers and ,plague ,i cannot understand1 for they must have had a commencement2 and their many points of similarity indicate1 if not an identical1 an analogous source to other endemic fevers4 ,it will doubtless be generally acknowledged that endemic and epidemic diseases depend upon some unknown agents1 having their source in malarious districts1 and being capable of assuming either a contagious or non-contagious character1 according to circumstances4 ,if1 therefore1 we find that under any conditions an endemic affection becomes capable of being propagated by contagion1 the same law will hold with regard to it as to the ,plague2 that the power of reproduction in this matter is evidence of life1 according to the doctrine laid down in the earlier part of this work4 ,but whether or not infection be admitted1 a matter generated in a malarious district1 if confined in its effects to that district alone1 would not necessarily imply an inorganic nature of the poison2 for it is difficult to understand how inorganic poison1 prevailing generally over a certain tract of country1 could select particular individuals for its victims4 ,if chloroform1 chlorine1 carbonic acid1 sulphuretted hydrogen1 or even spores of poisonous fungi1 7as #ajb supposed by ,mitchell1 which1 as he regards their effects1 would act in a similar manner to inorganic compounds7 were the agents1 all persons would suffer more or less1 and the majority be similarly affected4 ,we do not find that uniformity of symptoms1 which attend upon the exhibition of poisons in the ordinary acceptation of the term1 poisoning4 ,this subject shall be more particularly considered1 when treating of the influence of organic germs on animals and plants4 ,the history of the ,eclair steamer is particularly interesting1 as shewing the extraordinary tenacity with which the germs of disease attach themselves to vessels1 which we may call floating houses4 ,the crew of the ,eclair contracted ,yellow ,fever on the coast of ,africa1 and a number of them died4 ,the remainder1 sick and well1 landed at ,bona ,vista1 one of the ,cape de ,verde ,islands1 and the vessel underwent a process of washing1 whitewashing1 and fumigating4 ,nevertheless1 on the return of the ship's company1 the disease broke out again with equal intensity1 and the vessel was ordered home4 ,sixty-five out of #adf officers and men1 who composed the crew1 died of the disease before reaching ,portsmouth1 and twenty-three were sick at the time of arrival4 ,eight days after the ,eclair left ,bona ,vista1 a ,portuguese soldier who had mixed with her crew died in the fort which had been occupied by them4 ,other soldiers then fell sick1 and the fort was abandoned4 ,the fever still spread4 ,from the #bjth ,september1 when the first soldier #ajc was attacked1 to the first week in ,december1 the fever continued to rage1 and at that period it had found its way into almost all the country villages4 ,the fever was believed to be the genuine black vomit fever2 it proved contagious almost without exception to the nurses of the sick4 ,this is an abstract of ,mr4 ,rendell's letter to ,lord ,aberdeen1 ,mr4 ,rendell being ,british ,consul at ,bona ,vista4 ,now at the time the fever broke out in the island the weather was extraordinarily hot1 and much rain had fallen1 and the town itself was badly drained and in a filthy state2 can it be imagined then that the seeds of a disease liable to assume a pestilential character should lie dormant or be annihilated under circumstances the most favourable for their development1 especially when we know that endemic diseases may assume a malignant character8 ,this is just one of many cases which confirm our opinion in this respect1 that plants and diseases are not long in making their appearance where the soil and atmosphere are congenial4 ,the tenacity with which the disease attached itself to the ,eclair is sufficiently explained in the absence of due ventilation2 in fact1 that in the first instance there was no ventilation at all in the hold of the ship4 ,this also the more readily affords a clue to the disaster through all its stages1 first in the contraction of the disease as an endemical affection in the vessel2 secondly1 in the multiplication of the #ajd germs in the damp ill-ventilated hold1 in a warm climate2 and thirdly1 the persistence and entire localization of the disease to the vessel when it arrived in the climate of the ,british shores2 while1 fourth and lastly1 in the unusually hot and damp island of ,bona ,vista1 the seeds of the disease were sown1 and1 as we might expect1 multiplied indefinitely4 ,the consecutive attacks of the crew of the ,eclair shew that here a noxious gas or a vaporized inorganic poison could not have been the cause of the disease1 for as ,i have before said1 in this case the attacks should have been simultaneous2 we find1 on the contrary1 that as the depressing effects of the melancholy condition of the crew was almost hourly undermining the health of the stoutest of them they as surely became the victims4 ,the ,kroomen1 or natives on board the ship had not suffered1 shewing that they were inured to the miasm1 or were destitute of that condition of blood which would be favourable to a propagation of the materies of the disease4 ,the ,eclair we learn had left ,bona ,vista eight days when the first victim breathed his last2 this would give perhaps three or four days for the incubation of the disease in the patient1 or supposing he had not contracted the germs of the disease before the crew of the ,eclair left the fort1 some local favouring conditions were the means of keeping the germs in a fertilizing state1 for it is clear from this spot the infection spread as from a centre or focus4 #aje ,such instances as these might be multiplied to extend the length of the enquiry1 but1 ,i think1 to little advantage4 ,the chief facts to be gathered are that an endemic affection became epidemic and pestilential1 contrary to its usual mode1 for the ,portuguese official physician1 on being consulted by the ,governor of the ,island as to the safety of landing the contaminated crew1 said1 ,no danger at all2 ,i have often brought sick men on shore coming in vessels from the ,african coast1 and ,i never knew any ill effects to arise4 ,putting the most reasonable construction on this emphatic and straightforward language1 we may presume that ordinary1 remittent1 and yellow fever had been commonly imported into the island1 for it is not to be supposed but that both forms of disease must have existed among those sick men who had often been landed1 under the sanction of the ,portuguese physician4 ,to take another instance2 intermittent fever or ague1 is a disease known among almost all nations of the world1 but it usually occurs in the endemic form only4 ,it is universally supposed to depend entirely upon marsh effluvia1 and we are accustomed to consider it as attaching only to low lying countries2#dj but this is not always the case1 for disease in #ajf this respect1 like vegetation1 may be found in various latitudes1 to accommodate itself at varying altitudes1 to the temperature and climatic relations1 so as to appear indigenous4 ,but though our prejudices are in favour of a simple miasmatic source of ague1 as its sole cause1 there are some who believe in its infectious nature4 ,m4 ,sigaud1 in his work on the ,climate and ,diseases of ,brazil1 speaks of ,epidemics of grave intermittent ,fever1 and ,dr4 ,copland says1 that the epidemic prevalence of ague is a better established fact than its infection1 and has been admitted by most writers4#da ,we have1 therefore1 but to go one step further to arrive at infection1 after having found that an endemic disease under peculiar circumstances1 though but rarely1 becomes #ajg epidemic4 ,the number of persons attacked by ague in a malarious district1 in proportion to the population1 is not so great as might be expected1 considering that they are always subject by night and day1 more or less1 to respire the air containing the germs of intermittent fever2 we might1 therefore1 deny the paludal source of the affection1 as reasonably as deny infection1 if we found that occasionally1 persons1 though subject to all the usual influences1 yet escaped all injurious consequences4 ,there are grades and varieties of infectious diseases1 from the most inveterate to the most mild and doubtful2 but that all1 without exception1 which can in any way be traced to a specific generating and organic cause1 may assume an exalted infectious character1 and that the most inveterate1 on the contrary1 may more resemble the mild and doubtfully infectious forms1 is a conviction that must be forced on all who pursue this enquiry with unbiassed interest4 99 99 99 99 99 #ajh ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,the ,,reasonableness ,,of ,,the ,,application ,,of ,,the ,,facts ,,to ,,the ,,inference4 -------- ,,section ,i4 ,,the ,,chemical ,,theory ,,of ,,epidemics ,,untenable4 ,it has been inferred that the germs of disease possess the property of vitality1 and a number of facts have been adduced to support the proposition that vitality is the indwelling force by which the matter generating epidemic and endemic disease exercises its influence over man and animals4 ,the reasonableness of the application of these facts to the end in view has now to be considered4 ,chemistry cannot account for epidemics4 ,our first subject of reflection points to the chemical discoveries of the last few years1 and particularly to those of the great ,german chemist ,liebig4 ,we find in the first paragraph of his ,organic ,chemistry applied to ,physiology and ,pathology1 the following words3 ,in the animal ovum1 as well as in the seed of the plant1 we recognize a certain remarkable force1 the source of growth or increase in the mass1 and of reproduction or of supply of the matter consumed2 a force in a state of rest4 ,by the action of external influences1 by impregnation1 by the presence of air and moisture1 the condition #aji of static equilibrium is disturbed4 ,this force is called the vital force1 vis vitae1 or vitality4 ,the doctrine of ,liebig1 that the vital force manifests itself in two conditions1 or rather1 that it is known to be in two different states1 that of static equilibrium as in the seed1 and in a dynamic state1 as in that of growth and reproduction1 is perfectly applicable to the germs of disease2 the static equilibrium is referrible to the matter of vaccine lymph when dried and preserved for use1 and the dynamic forces of the matter are known to be in operation during its reproduction and growth in the system of the vaccinated child4 ,then as to reproduction of matter by any chemical process1 our author can furnish us with no examples1 for even in his explanation of the causes of disease he is quite silent on this point1 merely acknowledging that diseased products must be either rendered harmless1 destroyed1 or expelled from the body4 ,he further says1 that in all diseases where the formation of contagious matter and of exanthemata is accompanied by fever1 two diseased conditions simultaneously exist1 and two processes are simultaneously completed1 and that it is by means of the blood as a carrier of oxygen that neutralization or equilibrium is established4 ,liebig thus admits that an agent exists in the blood1 capable of deteriorating it at the expense of the oxygen1 which he maintains is contained in the red globules2 he further acknowledges that two processes of diseased #aaj action are going on at the same time1 and though he does not explain them1 ,i imagine him to mean that new contagious matter is generated and eliminated from the blood1 and that at the same time1 there is that condition of body which he would call simply a diseased state1 and characterizes it thus3 ,disease occurs when the sum of vital force which tends to neutralize all causes of disturbance1 7in other words1 when the resistance offered by the vital force7 is weaker than the acting cause of the disturbance4 ,if ,i rightly apprehend his notions1 they perfectly harmonize with my ideas1 to a certain extent1 on the subject4 ,they accord1 at any rate1 most completely with the theory attempted to be established1 and fully confirm the reasonableness of the application of the facts recorded to the inference drawn from other sources4 ,the difference only rests on the question whether vitalized or non-vitalized matter is the fons et origo mali4 ,how is the production of new matter1 resembling that originally causing the disease1 to be explained by any known hypothesis1 except on the assumption of living organized matter8 ,though ,liebig and ,mulder both deny the fact1 that the ,torula cerevisiae is the sole agent in the process of fermentation3 they both equally fail in shewing upon what it does depend1 and their difficulty rests entirely on their incapacity to explain the uniform reproductive properties of the matter engaged in this1 as well as in all other allied operations4 ,liebig's statement #aaa however on this matter requires notice--he says1 that putrifying blood1 white of egg1 flesh and cheese1 produce the same effects in a solution of sugar1 as yeast or ferment4 ,the explanation is simply this2 that ferment or yeast is nothing but vegetable fibrine1 albumen or caseine1 in a state of decomposition4 ,this state of decomposition1 however1 involves a much more complex proceeding1 than simply a reduction of matter into its elementary forms of gases1 earths1 and minerals2 for we nowhere find decomposition of this kind going on without the development of some organized bodies1 either animal or vegetable3 and since we have seen that the spores of the cryptogami are always in existence in the atmosphere1 and making their appearance under favouring conditions1 and especially when we find that fermentation is invariably accompanied1 and ,i may safely say1 preceded by the deposition in the fluid of the sporules of the ,torula1 we can hardly believe that they are any other than the sole agents of the process4 ,i have now a considerable quantity of the ,torula obtained from the urine of a diabetic patient1 in which they appeared1 as it were1 spontaneously4 ,after the urine had been allowed access to the air for a certain time1 and the whole of the saccharine matter was converted into new compounds1 reproduction of the ,torula ceased2--and those which remained when the process was completed1 still continue as organic cells1 deposited #aab in the bottle in an inert state1 but ready1 on the addition of fresh sugar1 as has been proved1 to resume an active existence4 ,these germs1 it is now well known1 may be dried into powder1 so as to be blown away like dust without any1 or but little1 detriment to their vital energies2 and there is now no doubt that they exist in this condition in the air1 as do the spores of mucor1 aspergillus1 oidium1 agaricus1 and all other fungi4 ,mulder1 however1 does allow some properties to the yeast vesicle2 he says1 a variety of strange ideas have been entertained respecting the nature of yeast2 recent experiments have convinced me that it undoubtedly is a cellular plant consisting of isolated cells4 ,they resemble the composition of cellulose in some respects1 but differ from it in many4 ,these vesicles1 consisting of a substance resembling that of cells1 do not contribute in the least to the fermentation1 but are exosmotically penetrated during fermentation by the protein compound4 ,these chemists seem to have an instinctive horror of allowing any active properties to the yeast vesicle1 that is as far as the conversion of sugar into carbonic acid and alcohol is concerned in the act of fermentation4 ,dr4 ,carpenter1 as if desiring to conciliate the chemical and physiological disputants1 considers that the truth is to be found in the mean of the two extremes1--that is1 that the process of fermentation is neither entirely dependent on chemical laws1 nor on those laws which preside #aac over the growth of reproductive matter1 but is a process in which both perform certain offices1 each depending on the other to produce the combined result2 he thus approaches more nearly to the theory of ,mulder1 than that of ,liebig4 ,but to revert to ,mulder1 he speaks of the ,torula cells being exosmotically penetrated during the process of fermentation by the protein compound4 ,now the ,torula is acknowledged to be one of the ,fungals1 and the chemical constituents of the ,fungi approach very nearly that of animal tissues4 ,they contain a peculiar principle1 residing in and obtainable from them1 termed ,fungin1 which is as highly azotised as animal fibre4 ,the protein compound alluded to1 ,mulder says1 is not gluten1 because insoluble in boiling alcohol1 and not albumen1 because it is very readily dissolved in acetic acid1 and he regards it as a superoxide of protein4 ,this superoxide of protein can only have been produced by a vital action in the cells of the ,torula1 and as the fungi consume oxygen1 and give out carbonic acid1 we clearly have all the elementary conditions for their growth in almost all decomposing animal and vegetable matters4 ,it is the nature of the fungi to live on organized matter1 but always when it has a tendency to decay2 it is for this reason they have been called ,scavengers4 ,again1 we can understand why some animalized or nitrogenous matter should be necessary for fermentation1 otherwise fungi could not grow1 nitrogen being an essential constituent of #aad their structure1 and further fermentation does not commence without the presence of oxygen1 and like as in animals1 this gas supports their existence4 ,the conversion of sugar into alcohol is represented by the following formula3-- ,,result4 ,sugar4 ,alcohol4 ,carbonic ,acid4 ,hydrogen #c #c ,oxygen #c #a #b ,carbon #c #b #a ,if therefore the process were merely of a chemical nature1 where is the necessity for atmospheric oxygen to accomplish the end8 it is quite certain that fermentation cannot go on without its presence4 ,let us compare the action of ferment or yeast in a dried state to the action of albumen1 which ,liebig says is sufficient when decomposing to set up fermentation4 ,the white of eggs when added to saccharine liquors requires a period of three weeks1 with a temperature of #if;deg ,f4 before it will excite fermentation4#db ,but any saccharine liquor on exposure to the air1 though entirely destitute of albumen or gluten1 will ferment1 and the ,torula may be found in it4 ,i have found the ,torula in a great variety of syrups which have spontaneously undergone fermentation4 ,i have also discovered that the development of the cells is delayed or accelerated by the nature of the ingredient used in flavouring #aae the syrups1 with other peculiarities which need not here be mentioned4 ,but the conversion of starch into sugar by means of gluten requires some notice1 as by some persons it is associated in their minds with the organic process of fermentation4#dc ,mulder ascribes the latter in the first instance to the action of heat1 evidently believing that the pseudo-catalytic operation of gluten upon starch is the type of all such actions1 and regarding them all as simply chemical1 but we here distinguish a wide difference2 in the latter instance the gluten is decomposed1 and rendered unfit for a repetition of the chemical phenomenon1 and if it is desired to renew the action fresh gluten must be obtained1 and a certain temperature kept up1 otherwise the experiment fails4 ,how different is fermentation3 in the ordinary temperature of the atmosphere the yeast vesicle will multiply1 no incremental or unnatural addition of heat is requisite1 and it is one of the commonest and most natural instances of vegeto-chemistry3 the grape cannot shed its juice1 nor the sugar cane its sap without admitting these germs1 which1 under certain #aaf conditions multiply themselves and convert the saccharine elements into new compounds4 ,the method by which the conversion of starch into sugar is accomplished is thus described by ,dr4 ,ure4 ,he says that if starch one part be boiled with twelve parts of water and left to itself1 water merely being stirred in it as it evaporates1 at the end of a month or two in summer weather it is changed into sugar and gum1 bearing certain proportions to the amount of starch used4 ,but if we boil two parts of potato starch into a paste1 with twenty parts of water1 mix this paste with one part of the gluten of wheat flour1 and set the mixture for eight hours in a temperature of from #abb;deg to #afg;deg ,f4 the mixture soon loses its pasty character1 and becomes by degrees limpid1 transparent1 and sweet1 passing at the same time first into gum and then into sugar4--,the residue has lost the faculty of acting upon fresh portions of starch4 ,four points of contrast present themselves for notice as elements of comparison with true fermentation4 #ast4 ,the starch solution has to be boiled1 so that heat1 by which it is to be supposed that the starch globule is ruptured1 seems to be an essential portion of the chemical change1 and even this may in fact alone be sufficient in such a case to produce some elementary change in the starch1 and may prepare it for the subsequent catalytic action of some related organic1 though not vital material4#dd #aag #bnd4 ,not only a summer heat is necessary1 but a period of one or two months time must elapse before the starch with the water simply becomes converted into sugar1 and if artificial heat is to be used to hasten the operation1 a temperature from #abb;deg to #afg;deg ,f4 must be resorted to in order to obtain the desired result4 #crd4 ,when even this is accomplished there is no reproduction of the fermenting matter1 and artificial and chemical means must again be applied to repeat the experiment4 #dth4 ,the conversion of starch into sugar can be accomplished without the presence of gluten at all1 by the aid only of temperature and time4 ,it seems to me1 therefore1 to be entirely unnecessary to occupy more space in the elaboration of a proof of the doctrine that the germs of the ,torula are the sole agents in the conversion of saccharine fluids into alcohol and carbonic acid4 ,by another chemical process starch can be converted into sugar1 but ,i am not aware that hitherto any method has been discovered by which sugar can be converted into alcohol except by the process of fermentation proper4 ,i have been thus particular in commenting on this subject1 as it bears1 in an especial manner1 on the question under consideration4 #aah ,the physiologist cannot afford to lose this process from the category of chemico-vital1 or biochemical manifestations4#de ,the philosophy of the age has a tendency to make every thing chemical2 it is true that the ,divinity is as much seen in the laws which govern the elementary particles of matter1 as in those laws which preside over the transmutation and sustentation of those elementary and inorganic particles1 when compounded in the tissues which are engaged in the formation of living beings4 ,the laws by which acids and alkalies neutralize each other1 and the affinities single1 double and elective1 which the particles of matter exhibit1 together with the influences of light1 heat1 and electricity upon almost every condition of matter1 are as truly wonderful as the creative power4 ,man may1 in many instances1 imitate the processes of nature1 he can render iron magnetic1 and form alkaloids1 but the #aai laws which govern the particles of matter are still the secret of the whole proceedings4 ,we do but interpret the language of nature in discovery1 the book is ever open before us1 and every atom of the world is a word and a theme1 capable of occupying the short span of sublunary existence allotted to man4 ,we have read of sermons in stones1 but a book has been written on a pebble4#df ,to return1 as we every where in nature find a gradual transition in the forms1 arrangements and properties of matter1 so we may expect to find a link between the inorganic and vital chemistry of nature4 ,the fungi1 by which we contend this transition appears to be accomplished1 are also a link in chemical composition1 between the animal and vegetable kingdom1 and not only in that1 but in their subsisting upon matter which has been organized1 they are deoxidizers and reducers1 as the vegetable kingdom in its highest function is a compounder4 ,to their functions and offices in the great scheme of creation1 we may fairly apply ourselves with a sure and certain result of the most interesting discovery4 ,is it no hint that wherever decaying organic matter is found1 there do we find fungi8 is it no hint that they are found in all parts of the world8 that even in snow the germs of fungi will grow and multiply to such an extent1 according to ,capt4 ,ross1 that the protococcus was seen #abj by him1 clothing the sides of the mountains at ,baffin's ,bay1 rising1 according to his report1 to the height of several hundred feet1 and extending to the distance of eight miles8 ,even stones contain in their interior1 or interspaces of their structure1 the germs of fungi4 ,a species of ,tufa is found in the vicinity of ,naples of a porous texture1 which1 when moistened and shaded1 produces vast mushrooms1 four or five inches high1 and eight or ten inches broad4#dg ,this author further says3 ,in the ,maremma1 where the volcanic tufa is the basis of the soil the surface is intermixed with the animal remains of departed empires1 and the ordure of cattle1 is covered with grasses of old pasturages1 and is wet with heavy dews4 ,everything1 therefore1 conspires there to a fungiferous end4 ,they are found growing in and upon both vegetables and animals4 ,nees von ,esenbeck imagined1 that minute forms multiplied themselves in the atmosphere2 and really1 when we consider the amount of effluvia composed of the atoms cast off from the bodies of living or decaying organic matters1 which are incessantly passing into the atmosphere1 the conjecture is not an unreasonable one4 ,the minuteness of those1 which we know are always found growing on decomposing bodies1 does not preclude the possibility1 nay1 further favours #aba the probability1 that others infinitely more minute1#dh may be destined to remove the more subtle and vaporous particles which escape into the air4 ,we can1 therefore1 ,i think1 conclude1 that the lower tribes of vegetation1 may consistently be regarded as capable of existing in almost any condition1 and almost under any circumstances1 they may be made to grow in plants by inoculation1 as shewn by ,de ,candolle1 and ,dr4 ,hassall4 ,if the stem of wheat also is inoculated with vibriones1 they will make their appearance in the grain4#di ,if the seed contain them and have not lost its germinating properties1 these worms will be found again in the grain4 ,if the grain containing them be dried for years1 and moistened again with water1 these animalcules1 according to ,bauer and ,steinbach1 will present all the phenomena of life4 ,this experiment ,i have witnessed1 and can confirm the statement4 ,these animalcules in the diseased grain1 have under the microscope the appearance of an immense #abb number of eels crowded together in a small space1 and presenting a movement more1 perhaps1 vermicular than any other1 and it is continued for a considerable time4 ,now if these animalcules1 or their ova1 can be proved to pass with the sap to the seed1 there can be no difficulty in comprehending how germs1 considerably more minute and of a vegetable nature1 should be found subject to the same peculiar mode of obtaining an entrance into animals and vegetables for sustenance4 ,it is usually imagined1 says ,dr4 ,carpenter1 that the germs liberated by one plant are taken up by the roots of others1 and being carried along the current of the sap1 are deposited and developed1 where vegetation is most active4 ,the chemical theory of disease would be better sustained by a comparison of the artificial formation of alkaloids1 and the phenomena of transformation of blood into the tissues of animals1 and their degeneration into effete matters1 and of sap into the tissues of plants and their degenerations4 ,professor ,kopp of ,strasburg1 says1 ,in a chemical point of view1 the alkaloids are remarkable for their composition1 for their special properties1 both physical and chemical1 and for the interesting reactions to which many of them give rise1 when exposed to the influence of different reagents4 ,considered medically1 the organic bases are distinguished by their energetic properties4 ,they #abc constitute at the same time1 the most violent and sudden poisons1 and the most valuable and heroic remedies4 ,upon this very intricate and interesting part of chemical philosophy1 it is rather dangerous to enter without a thorough and practical knowledge of the subject4 ,this1 however1 falls to the lot of few men4 ,we1 who are engaged in the study of disease1 and of the best methods of cure1 are obliged to take the investigations of the analytical chemist1 and examine them for ourselves in the intervals of leisure allowed us during the active exercise of our calling4 ,though with less advantages for the study of these transcendental relations of organic and inorganic matter1 we are not1 nevertheless1 precluded from forming our opinions on their practical bearings to the phenomena and treatment of disease4 ,that there is a matter of a poisonous nature concerned in the production of endemic and epidemic affections1 cannot be doubted by any one2 ,i believe indeed1 that the chemical theorists admit this1 at all events ,liebig does1 for he says1 ,the morbid poison changes in the blood are fermentative1 just such as occur in beer making4 ,if we start1 then1 with the consideration that poisons1 in a chemical point of view1 are the objects of our research2 the obvious course to take is to enquire what is the source of poisons generally1 and what their effects on the animal economy8 ,the mineral poisons are entirely excluded from the enquiry by their #abd inaptitude for diffusion1 and their uniform effects upon all persons1 differing only in degree in their operation4 ,the same objections apply to gaseous poisons1 except that to them the property of diffusion would be admitted4#ej ,we come then to the alkaloids1 which constitute1 as ,kopp says1 the most violent and sudden poisons4 ,for the production of alkaloids by artificial means1 organic products of some kind are required4 ,artificial heat1 powerful chemical agents or length of time1 are1 as far as information at present extends1 the indispensable requirements to induce these peculiar changes in matter4 ,the only instance ,i can find1 in which elementary matters can by artificial means be combined1 so as to resemble the products of nature1 is that of the conversion of carbon and nitrogen into cyanogen4 ,but the process by which this is accomplished1 leads rather to doubt whether it be really and simply by a combination of elementary carbon and nitrogen4 ,i extract the following from the ,annual ,report of the ,progress of ,chemistry1 for #ahdh4 ,h4 ,delbruck has performed some experiments on the important subject of the formation of cyanogen4 ,he confirms the statements of ,desfosses and ,fownes1 inasmuch as a weak but distinct formation of cyanogen was observed on igniting #abe sugar-charcoal#ea with carbonate of potassa in an atmosphere of nitrogen4 ,the use of sugar-charcoal1 may be perhaps an explanation of the weak formation of cyanogen1 for in these numerous and successive chemical changes of matter1 it is impossible to say how many sources of error may arise4 ,the constant contradictions of each other1 and the opposite statements made by chemists1 of equal eminence1 leave us in a wilderness of doubt1 from which we are not likely to be freed1 until definite laws shall be discovered to act as a guide in the comprehension of the higher branches of ,chemical ,philosophy4 ,but supposing that the generation of alkaloids could take place in the body1 or some analogous poisonous matter1 we have yet to imagine a whole host of peculiar and essential conditions to effect this change1 besides an atmospheric agent or agents to set in motion those compositions and decompositions1 capable of bringing out these new products from the elements of blood4 ,we are aware that in the blood1 carbon and nitrogen are sufficiently abundant as well as saline compounds1 to generate cyanides1 and1 with hydrogen also there in plenty1 hydrocyanates1 and thus from them many other poisonous products1 but how is all this to be effected8 ,and even if effected1 it is yet a question if such compounds can in any way simulate the attacks of epidemic disease4 ,we have #abf already shewn that the amount of most poisons necessary to destroy an individual1 can be pretty clearly estimated1 and their modus operandi is tolerably well understood4 ,again1 the most essential part1 in which all chemical theory fails1 is an explanation of the reproduction of contagious matter4 ,the catalytic process1 by which decompositions are said to be effected1 and in which ,liebig includes the various fermentations1 is one of those chemical relations of matter to matter1 considered by some as the probable cause of infection4 ,mr4 ,simon1 in a late lecture1 has said1 ,i consider the phenomena of infective diseases1 to be essentially chemical1 and ,i look to chemistry to enlighten the darkness of their pathology4 ,qualitative modifications1 affecting the molecules of matter as to their modes of action and reaction1 are such as form the subject of chemical science2 and those humoral changes which arise as the result of infection clearly fall within the terms of its definitions4 ,further on he adds3 ,the phenomena of infected diseases appears then1 in many respects1 to be sui generis4 ,certainly they are chemical4 ,probably they belong to that class of chemical actions called catalytic4#eb #abg ,it is not improbable that something resembling a catalytic action may take place in the blood in those diseases of endemic and epidemic origin1 but that it can be by a chemical process alone is contrary to all experience of catalytic operations1 for except in the instance of fermentation proper1 there is no multiplication of the fermentative matter4 ,the action of the matter of contagion seems to stand on the confines between electro-chemical and bio-chemical manifestations1 and so long as no chemical explanation can be given for the multiplication of the matter of infection1 the most rational course to adopt is to assume that life under some unknown form is1 as we every where find it1 the sole reproductive agent4 99 99 99 99 99 #abh ,,section ,,ii4 ,,the ,,animalcular ,,theory ,,of ,,epidemics ,,untenable4 ,the animalcular theory of disease1 after remaining almost unnoticed for nearly two centuries1 has been again revived under the auspices of ,dr4 ,holland in this country1 and ,henle of ,berlin4 ,and though not entirely buried in obscurity1 this theory had completely failed to modify the practice of physicians in the treatment of those diseases which were supposed to owe their existence to these invisible atoms of created being4 ,the resuscitated notions and all their amplifications1 to which the advance of science has contributed so much1 are threatened with a like fate1 an absence of all practical results4 ,though ,i would not attempt to deny the possibility1 nay1 even the probability1 that insect life may yet be discovered as the cause of some diseases1#ec still #abi there are many and cogent reasons against both1 and which are at variance with facts and observations4 ,where insect life has been found associated with disease1 it more especially appears as a consequence than as a cause4 ,disease1 in its most enlarged sense1 is a conversion of one form of matter into another2 it is a transformation of healthy blood and tissue into new and abnormal products4 ,where insects in all their variety of forms are discovered1 their voracious propensities are their chief characteristics1 they are the consumers of matter after its partial disintegration1 if animal matter be their food1 unless they be carnivorous and predacious1 or if herbivorous they usually feed upon the tender shoots of plants4 ,thus far we are certain of the manner in which insects destroy living matter2 it is a process the unassisted eye may every where witness1 and which experience has amply attested4 ,to take1 however1 the animalcular world as it presents itself to us under the microscope1 and as the intermediate step between the manifest and the hidden for a fairer and more direct method of reaching the truth1 what do we observe to be the ruling law of infusory instinct8 ,they live to feed2 the term polygastrica sufficiently implies their natural tendency to consume4 ,the simplest form of animalcular life1 seen in the genera of monads1 still preserves the animal character by possessing a stomach or stomachs in which the food is received1 to be digested for the nourishment of the #acj system2 and even some of these minute objects which vary in size from one two-thousandth1 to one three-thousandth of a line in diameter1 are said to be carnivorous and predacious4 ,upon this fact alone1 ,i would place the improbability of insects being the cause of epidemic disease4 ,each insect doubtless has its own peculiar food1 and whether it be a vegetable or animal feeder1 it consumes the matter already organized for conversion into its own tissue1 and the only change which could be affected by them in the blood1 would necessarily be that of appropriation of some one of the constituents as an element of food2 when that food is digested1 7taking digestion generally as an identical process17 the excrementitious matter is composed of secretions and disorganized matter1 mixed together as an effete product1 and destined then for reorganization by the vegetable kingdom4 ,now all animals1 whether they be large or small1 live on organized matter1--they convert that matter into an inorganic form1 and ,i cannot help imagining that if epidemic diseases and fevers depended upon animalcular growth and development in the blood or tissues of the body1 the excretions or secretions from them would have yielded some information to the searching enquiries of the chemist1 supposing that these excretions and secretions were capable of reaching to a sufficient amount in quantity1 to bring about those fatal effects of poisoning1 we witness in ,cholera and other epidemic affections4 ,insects1 ,i #aca believe are poisonous only by their secretions1 and though they are known to multiply with exceeding rapidity1 ,i can hardly imagine that by their development1 however rapid1 they could produce such a change in the human body1 as to bring about the speedy dissolution1 and generally gangrenous appearance1 that has invariably been observed in those suddenly dying under the influence of epidemic poisons4 ,the vibriones1 whose destructive effects on wheat are so well known1 are a genus of animalcules1 which at first would seem to favour the animalcular theory in a remarkable manner2 for on examining them1 they do not appear to possess any other structure than a gelatinous absorbing mass1 in this respect resembling a vegetable4 ,but ,ehrenberg's scrutiny corrected the error of ,de ,blanville1 and shewed1 that they were far from being agastria1 or stomachless animals4 ,the ,rev4 ,william ,kirby says1 ,ehrenberg has studied the vibriones in almost every climate1 and has discovered1 by keeping them in coloured waters1 that they are not the simple animals that ,lamarck and others supposed1 and that almost all have a mouth and digestive organs1 and that numbers of them have many stomachs4 ,all the discoveries indeed which have been made on the minuter forms of animal life1 have tended to confirm the doctrine that the stomach is the exponent organ of an animal2 that is1 in all animals there exists1 in a variety of modified conditions1 a receptacle for food4 ,some of the #acb animalcules1 however1 are still supposed to exist by absorption1 as the vinegar eel1 vibrio anguilla1#ed but when we find that the law is1 generally speaking1 that the receptacles of food become multiplied in number in these minute beings1 and the vibriones which were supposed to be stomachless1 have been proved to emulate their associates in the number of these organs2 it would be more reasonable to conclude that our imperfect vision is the barrier to their detection1 rather than to suppose that they do not exist4 ,besides1 when we are told on undoubted authority that some of the animals of this class1 have as many as forty or fifty stomachs2 the least we can do1 is to allow that all of them possess1 at least one digestive organ1 though we may not be able to detect it4#ee ,so far then for the consideration of animalcular structure3 let us now more particularly enquire into their destructive habits1 and their functions1 inasmuch #acc as they may be supposed capable of engendering epidemic diseases and fever4 ,the truly carnivorous animalcules1 or those truly herbivorous in their instincts1 we may presume to be beyond the limits of our enquiry4 ,we have rather to do with those which take an intermediate position1 namely1 those which feed upon matter undergoing decomposition1 or upon fluids containing organic matters in solution1 or suspension4 ,if we take ,entozoa generally1 they may be considered as most conveniently to be placed in this intermediate class2 and here we find still the digestive apparatus1 and more than this1--for upon the modifications of the organs appropriated to digestion is their classification founded4 ,rudolphi divided the ,entozoa into ,sterelmintha1 or those in which the nutrient tubes without anal outlet are simply excavated in the general parenchyma1 and into the ,coelelmintha1 in which an intestinal canal with proper parietes floats in a distinct abdominal cavity1 and has a separate outlet for the excrements4#ef ,how do these animals obtain their sustenance1 and what changes can they produce upon the vital fluid of the body8 ,analogy is here our only guide4 ,if the trichina spiralis is examined1 it is found to be enclosed in a cyst containing fluid2 and this is1 #acd doubtless1 the source of its nutriment1 and contains in solution the elements for its nutrition2 but in this instance there is no selection1 and there can be no locomotion to an extent sufficient to imply searching for food1 as the animalcule in its natural state1 when taken from the human muscle1 is found coiled upon itself1 making about two and a half turns4 ,the fluid of the cyst is thus in all likelihood prepared by endosmosis1 for the immediate and appropriate nutrition of the parasite4 ,the cyst is thus the part which performs the diseased process1 the containing animalcule is merely the consumer of what is prepared for it by the cyst4 ,and this would seem to be the rule with all parasites1 of the encysted kind4 ,we have alluded to the vibriones which are found in the fluids of living bodies1 and the trichina which is found in the solid muscle2 we have now to refer to those which infest the cavities4 ,it was1 ,i believe1 ,ehrenberg1 who shewed that the tartar which accumulates on the teeth is composed of the debris of minute animalcules2 in fact1 that it consists of calcareous matter1 having once formed a portion of the structure of their bodies1 the ubiquity of these creatures is therefore as much and clearly established as the lower forms of vegetation4 ,the intestinal worms1 of which perhaps the ,taenia is the most curious and important to be noticed1 are from the locality in which they are found1 chiefly injurious by the irritation they set up1 and by appropriating #ace to themselves the nutrient juices elaborated in the process of animal digestion1 thus depriving the individuals they infest of that which was destined for their own nourishment4 ,in this1 as in all associated instances1 the character by which these parasitic animals are marked is their consuming propensity4 ,there is1 however1 one more observation to make upon parasitic growths2 but the question is yet unsettled in what kingdom of nature is the acephalocyst1 or hydatid1 to be placed4 ,mr4 ,owen says1 ,as the best observers agree in stating1 that the acephalocyst is impassive under the application of stimuli of any kind1 and manifests no contractile power1 either partial or general1 save such as results from elasticity1 in short1 neither feels nor moves1 it cannot1 as the animal kingdom is at present characterized1 be referred to that division of organic nature4 ,we thus arrive at the simple cell1 and the multiplication of living beings by cell buds2 it is the point at which the confines of the animal kingdom are reached1 and at which we are driven to speculation4 ,the hydatid lives like a plant1 by imbibition2 and procreates1 like a plant1 by budding1 either endogenously or exogenously1 as regards the original or parent cell4#eg #acf ,this condition of being1 suggested the notion of ,protozoa1 or first animals1 in the same way that the purely cellular plants1 that is1 each individual1 consisting of a single cell1 gave the idea of ,protophyta1 or first plants4 ,mr4 ,kirby thus expresses himself on this subject3 ,the first plants1 and the first animals1 are scarcely more than animated molecules1 and appear analogues of each other2 and those above them in each kingdom represent jointed fibrils4 ,admitting1 then1 that animals as well as plants exist in the form of simple cells1 and that their multiplication proceeds apparently upon the same principle in each1 it is nevertheless abundantly manifest1 that the cellular form of perfect individuals is infinitely more numerous in the vegetable than in the animal kingdom4 #acg ,from the mosses downwards to the fungi1 the whole structure of the plants consists of an aggregation of cells1 more or less in number and complicate arrangement1 until1 through a variety of gradations1 we reach the single cell as a perfect individual4 ,it is rather remarkable1 that the lower forms of vegetables and animals seem to derive their nutriment from matter of a similar kind2 and though the office of plants is as a rule1 to convert inorganic into organized matter1 it appears that some of the fungi may live as animals do on organic matter when in a state of solution4 ,this1 however1 is uncertain2 for we do not know what are the first signs of decomposition in organized bodies1 and for aught we can tell1 it may be perpetually going on2 so far as the disengagement of carbon from the system is concerned1 this is certain2 but whether the nitrogenous compounds also are subject to a resolution into their elements in the living body1 is another question1 and not so easy of solution4 ,the partially decomposed elements of animal structures are1 however1 particularly adapted for the nutrition of the lower forms of vegetation2 it is1 indeed1 from the decaying organic matters that the fungi derive1 it may be said1 their entire food4 99 99 99 99 99 #ach ,,section ,,iii4 ,,sketch ,,of ,,the ,,physiology ,,and ,,pathology ,,of ,,plants ,,and ,,animals4 ,animals and plants depend for their existence upon a nutritive fluid1 which permeates their structure2 it is the element from which all their secretions are formed1 and their organs are nourished4 ,the food of animals is composed of previously organized matters1 and is conveyed into a reservoir called a stomach1 where it undergoes a process of solution1 previously to entering the circulation4 ,at this period1 the animal and the plant again present points of resemblance1 the lymphatics or absorbent vessels take up the products of digestion1 and convey them to the blood-vessels1 where mingling with the current of the blood1 they are conveyed to the lungs1 there to undergo a process of oxygenation before they become fitted for the renovation of the tissues of the body4 ,such is the nature of the food of man1 that it contains all the elements necessary and adapted for transformation into bone1 muscle1 brain1 and parenchyma1 as well as the other tissues of the body2 besides other elementary matters1 which1 though they form a very insignificant portion of #aci animal textures1 from their constant presence in the vital fluid1 evidently perform some important offices in the general economy of life2 they are partly1 perhaps1 occupied in forming constituents of secretions4 ,plants do not require a stomach1--the humus or soil to which they are fixed is the laboratory1 where the nutritive matter is prepared in a state fit for absorption by the spongioles of their roots1 and these correspond to the lymphatics of animals2 after being taken up by the spongioles1 this new fluid mingles with the sap1 and passes to the leaves or breathing apparatus of plants1 where carbonic acid gas combines with the crude vital liquid1 and converts it into a condition fit for all the offices to be performed by the plant3 viz4 the growth of tissues1 and the elaboration of secretions4 ,the tissues1 however1 of plants1 though more simple in their nature1 present a much more varied character than those of animals1 when the different species are compared4 ,the bones of animals which give them their form1 are invariably constituted of phosphate and carbonate of lime1 deposited in a matrix of gluten2 muscle1 nerve1 brain1 tendons1 and ligaments1 have nearly1 if not completely1 an identical composition throughout the whole range of the animal kingdom3 their secretions1 however1 vary much more considerably1 as also do the secretions of vegetables4 ,but vegetable tissue may contain1 as in the stems of #adj grasses1 a considerable amount of silex1 and some notable quantity of sulphur1 and so essential to their existence is the former element1 that they cannot live without its presence in the soil1 and also with it an alkali1 to render it soluble4 ,a large amount of soda1 is an invariable attendant upon the structure of marine plants1 as potash is of those growing on the land4 ,thus1 whether we regard the health of animals1 or vegetables1 we discover1 that besides the matters which are absolutely indispensable for the nutriment of the tissues which undergo rapid transformation1 those of a more permanent and durable nature require in an almost insensible degree1 a restitution of elements2 and though not apparently absolutely necessary to preserve vitality in the being1 yet have so marked an influence over it1 as to indicate an extensive bearing of each individual part1 on the whole associated entity4 ,the elementary tissues of both kingdoms have been traced1 in whatever form they may be found1 to a cellular origin4 ,the minutest vegetable germ1 is a cell containing a granular matter within it1 and even man himself1 in his embryonic state1 may be represented as an insignificant point in the realms of space2 and might be placed side by side with the smallest particle of living matter1 without suffering by the comparison4 ,the laws by which the development of these elementary cells is regulated1 so that each advances #ada to its limit1 and fulfils its destination1 is one of those inscrutable and overwhelming mysteries of nature1 which leads the admirer of creation on and on into the abyss of the future1 and fills his soul with aspirations for that time1 when the veil of ignorance shall be withdrawn4 ,but this is not my subject4 ,the organization of the two animated kingdoms1 is then regulated by definite laws1 and all matter1 whether acting upon them as agents of nutrition or destruction1 are equally under their dominion2 to investigate and to endeavour to fathom some of these laws1 is the aim ,i have in view4 ,the sap is to the plant1 what the blood is to the animal1--the elements of nutrition and secretion are contained in it1 and whatever interferes with its normal constitution by subtracting from1 or adding to it1 deteriorates its qualities1 and retards or accelerates the functions of the individual4 ,excess or deficiency of the natural elements may also be a source of disturbance2 if carbonic acid be too abundantly liberated in the soil1 as ,dr4 ,lindley expresses it1 plants become gorged2 and if1 on the other hand1 the elimination be too slow1 they become starved4 ,it has been also shewn1 that plants though they give out oxygen from their leaves1 do not throw it off as animals do carbonic acid from their lungs2 but that this arises as a result of digestion1 and the fixation of carbon in the system1 and that they really respire oxygen as #adb animals do1 and give off carbonic acid1 both by day and night4 ,that light is the stimulant of the digestive functions1 and that1 therefore1 during the day1 the amount of oxygen thrown off1 far exceeds the amount of carbonic acid liberated during the same period4 ,the great and important distinction between animals and plants is1 that the former possess a nervous system1 by which they are subject to a very extended series of psychological relations2 it is in these chiefly1 if not entirely1 that we are to look for the distinctive and well-marked differences of diseased action4 ,in animals there are special media of communication between the sources of dynamic power1 and the parts upon which the force is exercised3 and again1 a return communication exists1 which conveys impressions to the source of power1 and to use a simple comparison1 a system of telegraphing is in incessant and watchful operation4 ,this force is influenced and modified in its action1 when exercised in the regulation of nutrition1 growth1 and reproduction of tissues1 by the passions and emotions of the mind4 ,all the secretions and functions of the body are more or less susceptible of being accelerated1 retarded or modified by the psychical relations of mind and matter4 ,though we are apt to imagine that in man alone1 these phenomena obtain much importance--there can be but little doubt1 that wherever a #adc nervous system exists1 whether in the form of aggregated or diffused ganglia1 the interdependence of force and organization1 each upon the other1 bears a certain and definite physiological comparison2 the more aggregated the ganglia1 the more close1 intimate1 and extensive the psychical connexions1 and the gradations pass downwards1 until they appear to be lost on the confines of the vegetable kingdom4 ,the diseases of plants and animals deserve a more careful comparison than1 ,i think1 has hitherto been bestowed upon them4#eh ,if the study of physiology1 or an enquiry into the laws which regulate the functions of living beings in a state of health1 has been materially aided by the intimate knowledge of vegetable physiology1 which1 from the simple structure of plants1 so favours the experiments of the student1 there is every reason to suppose that vegetable pathology may also lead us to an equally important and useful result4 ,it is quite certain1 that if a healthy seed1 or leaf-bud1 be placed in such a situation1 that1 according to the laws known1 it will in all likelihood germinate1 if all the elements for its sustenance exist in the soil1 and the temperature and hygrometric #add condition of the atmosphere are adapted to it1 a healthy plant will be the result4 ,light1 heat1 moisture1 and soil are therefore to be considered as the agents required to exist in a certain balance1 or proportion1 in reference to the health or power of vitality of the plant4 ,within a certain amount of variation1 health may persist in virtue of the power of selection1 which appertains to the spongioles of the root in absorbing nutriment2 and also as regards light1 from the tendency which most plants have to accommodate themselves to any deficiency of this element1 by presenting their leafy expansion in that direction where the most of its influence may be obtained4 ,but beyond a certain limit an unhealthy condition sets in4 ,if the soil contain not the inorganic elements1 which are absolutely indispensable for the tissues of the plant1 or even if they be there and not in a state to be absorbed1 a dwindling and degeneration ensue2 if light be deficient in quantity1 pallor1 feebleness1 and elongation of tissue follow1 with more fluidity and general softness of texture4 ,these conditions of plants have their analogues in the ill-fed and ill-nourished children in some of our manufacturing districts2 they are stunted and diseased4 ,transport a healthy country lad1 with the bloom of health on his cheek1 from his native hills and valleys1 or woods and fields1 to the stool behind a desk for eight hours a day1 in a narrow street in any city1 where the rays of the sun rarely penetrate1 it will not be long before #ade the skin of the animal and the cuticle of the plant may be submitted for comparison1 when both will testify to the importance of the solar rays1 as an indispensable agent in supporting the normal processes of organic life4 ,so far common observation is competent to a solution of the facts2 but beyond this we come to the enquiry1 what resemblances are there in the early conditions of plants and animals4 ,each originates from nucleated cells1 endowed by the ,all-seeing ,power with a blind impulse of progressive development2 the most simple cell of a vegetable multiplies itself by a generation of new cells within it1 when the parent dies1 and liberates the offspring4 ,here progression is simply multiplication2 it is1 as it were1 progression in length only4 ,the original cell1 however1 of animals1 which is styled the germinal vesicle1 extends or becomes developed into dissimilar parts2 and whatever may be the variety1 all alike proceed from the original germ cell1 and the tout ensemble of parts constitutes the one and indivisible whole2 in this instance there is addition besides multiplication1 tissues and organs are added in all variety1 until the maximum of organic development is attained in the wonderful being1 man4 ,yet how many points of resemblance are there between the vegetable cell and the fully developed human being1 in a physiological and pathological point of view4 ,there must be nourishment to sustain both2 both require a certain amount of light #adf and heat for their growth and increase1 and are dependent upon various unknown causes for active and healthy existence2 and when a certain time has expired1 all alike return to a condition1 in which the particles composing them are subject only to the dominion of the laws which preside over inorganic matter4 ,but during the existence of plants and animals1 we discover other features of comparison2 plants1 as well as animals1 are liable to disease2 they are subject to functional and organic affections4 ,the former1 among plants1 are usually traceable to atmospheric vicissitudes or irregularities1 changes of situation1 c42 and in man to irregularities of diet1 and mental and bodily excesses1 as well as to atmospheric vicissitudes4#ei ,the organic diseases of plants and animals depend upon a repetition1 or continuance1 of functional derangement4 ,as a consequence of this1 the nutrition and reproduction of tissues lose their normal and definite character1 wherefrom an indefinite and abnormal result is obtained4 ,there is a limit to abnormal productions1 and they are apparently #adg subject to laws1 though not yet understood4 ,in animals1 they may be either excessive development of natural tissue in natural localities1 as obesity and fatty tumours2 they may be natural products in unnatural situations1 as fatty degenerations of muscular tissue2 or altogether new and unnatural products1 as tubercle and cancer4 ,in plants1 from their greater simplicity of structure1 organic affections are perhaps entirely limited to the two first forms of animal organic disease2 viz4 to undue development of tissue in natural situations1 and to the formation of natural tissue in parts of a plant where they are not usually found in a state of nature4 ,the variety of excrescences seen on the stems1 branches1 and twigs of plants1 may be given as instances of the former2 and the conversion of stamina into petals1 as in double flowers1 as an instance of the latter4 ,we derive our sustenance from vegetables1 and they from us2 they produce for us the soothing opiate and the deadly strychnia2 we for them the animating ammonia1 and the distortions and sterility of excessive culture2 we engender in them1 by the latter1 debility1 disease1 and death2 and in our turn we become their prey4 ,all this indeed is but a cycle of events1 that requires no learned mind to fathom1 and to comprehend2 it is a matter of every day occurrence1 and1 though perhaps not entirely unheeded1 is not dwelt upon in the fulness of its bearings and importance4 #adh ,let us now consider the diseases of plants1 as a study progressive to those of man2 and as their physiology has so extensively served us1 we may possibly also find in their pathology much material for instruction2 not that it will be attempted to shew that the same diseases affect both kingdoms1 but that diseases1 though dissimilar in effects1 may have similar sources4 ,unfortunately1 there are not many men in this country1 who need go further than their own gardens to find abundance of disease among their fruit trees and vegetables4 ,the vine1 the apple and the potato1 common to most gardens1 will furnish specimens4 ,it is an error of a serious kind to suppose1 that the parasites which infest plants are not essentially the cause1 or1 perhaps1 more properly speaking1 the elements of disease4 ,i confine myself here to disease of parasitic origin1 as that is the subject of which ,i am chiefly treating4 ,that parasitic growths are the elements of disease in some instances1 is now beyond dispute4 ,the experiments of ,mr4 ,hassall1 detailed in ,part ,,ii4 of the ,transactions of the ,microscopical ,society of ,london1 are most conclusive2 and they are of that simple nature1 that any one may convince himself of their accuracy1 by a repetition of them from the directions there laid down4 ,he says1 the decay is communicable at will to any fruits of the apple and peach kind1 no matter #adi how strong their vital energies may be1 by the simple act of inoculation of the sound fruit with a portion of decayed matter1 containing filaments of the fungi4 ,we may use with success the sporules of such fungi2 but in this case the decomposition does not set in so quickly2 in the one case1 the smaller filaments of the fungi have advanced several stages in their growth2 while in the other1 the sporules have yet to pass through the several stages of their development4 ,mr4 ,hassan1 however1 seems to speak doubtfully as to the mode in which the disease becomes naturally introduced2#fj how the spores enter the fruit1 is not very clear--though probably1 it is by insinuating themselves between the cells of which the cuticle is composed1 or perhaps by means of the stomata1 where they are present4 ,i may here state that the experiments were made on fruit1 while living1 and attached to the tree4 ,but why should there be a doubt as to the parts by which the sporules of minute fungi enter the plant1 when it is clear1 that not only can they enter #aej by the spongioles1 but by the stomata of the leaves1 and mingle with the sap4 ,it is true1 that they make their appearance and grow upon the leaves and the fruit2 but these are the situations most adapted for their fructification4 ,i have seen the spores of the fungi which attack the cucumber and vegetable-marrow1 in the cells of the hairs1 and even their filamentous prolongations2 these appropriate the fluids conveyed to the cells of the hair1 rupture them1 and at length fructify4 ,on referring to ,dr4 ,lindley's ,medical and ,economic ,botany1 ,i find that many fungi are the active elements of disease1 and in a manner which renders it highly improbable that they are so in any other way1 than by obtaining an entrance to the sap of the plants4 ,of the microscopic fungus which destroys wheat1 the ,uredo caries of ,de ,candolle1 we find the habitat to be within the ovary of the corn1 and that #d1jjj1jjj may be contained in a grain of wheat1--now this and another fungus1 the ,lanosa nivalis1 are said to destroy whole crops of corn3 we cannot imagine that such an extensive affection1 can have any other source than by means of the spores through the sap1 seeing that bruising of the surface1 or rupture of the cuticle of the apple1 a comparatively soft fruit is necessary to produce the disease artificially in them2 besides1 a grain of corn containing vibriones1 when grown and having fruited1 the new fruit also contains them--now here1 as this is ,i believe almost invariably the #aea case1 either they or their ova must be carried with the sap to the new germs4 ,it is rather a remarkable fact1 that these entophytes appropriate the nutriment destined for the plant in which they grow1 they are consequently the means in many instances of its entire destruction1 though only partially so in others4 ,there are many ,fungi which have this tendency4 ,the ,puccinia gramienis1 preys upon the juices of plants1 and prevents the grain from swelling4 ,the ,aecidium urticae1 common on nettles1 deprives the plant on which it grows1 of the organizable matter1 intended for its own nutrition4 ,the ,erysiphe communis1 overruns and destroys peas4 ,the ,botrytis infestans1 attacks the leaves and stems of potatoes4 ,the ,oidium abortifaciens1 attacks the ovaries of grasses--and the ,oidium ,tuckeri1 a formidable parasite1 destroys the functions of the skin1 of the parts it attacks4 ,the latter has been most injurious to the vines1 during the last two years4 ,i have known instances in which the vines have been cut down1 and every means taken to rid the houses of the disease2 but this year1 it has made its appearance1 with all its former virulence1 in the new shoots4 ,this1 however1 is sufficient to shew that plants are liable to disease1 depending upon parasitic growths1 which affect their vital powers1 and deprive them of their natural nutritive fluids4 ,but somewhat similar diseases belong also to #aeb warm climates2 in a letter from ,cuba1 dated ,dec4 #ahdc1--,mr4 ,bastian writes1 a plague has appeared among the orange trees--a mildew attacking the leaves and the blossoms1 which finally dry up4 ,it most frequently kills the trees4 ,none of the orange family are exempt2 lemons1 limes1 and their varieties1 with the shaddock and forbidden fruit1 have all suffered4 ,this disease has continued without intermission1 till the present year1--when the same gentleman writes1 ,feb4 #bjth1 #ahej3 ,the evil exists1 although in a diminished degree1 so much so1 as to have allowed the trees to produce me #cj1jjj oranges again4 ,in old times1 the same plantations produced me #ajj1jjj4 ,the ,west ,india sugar-canes are also liable to a disease1 which the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,griffiths1 in his ,natural ,history of the ,island of ,barbadoes1 speaks of1 in the following manner3 ,this1 among diseases peculiar to canes1 as among those which happen to men1 too justly claims the horrible precedence4 ,this disease is called the ,yellow ,blast4 ,it is difficult to distinguish the ,blast in its infancy1 from the effect of dry weather4 ,there are often seen on such sickly canes1 many small protuberant knobs1 of a soft downy substance4 ,it is likewise observable1 that such blades will be full of brownish decaying spots4 ,the disease is very destructive to the canes4 ,it is observed1 that the ,blast usually appears successively in the same fields1 and often in the very same spot of land4 #aec ,this ,blast is often found far from infected places1 and the infection always spreads faster to the leeward1 or with the wind4 ,it is remarkable if canes have been once infected with the ,blast1 although they afterwards to all appearance1 seem to recover2 yet the juice of such canes will neither afford so much sugar1 nor so good of its kind1 as if obtained from canes which were never infected4 ,i may here allude to the circumstance1 that in the island of ,cuba1 the destructive mildew is commonly called1 la pesta4 ,it were needless to multiply instances of other endemic and epidemic diseases of vegetables2 they are well known by practical observers to be very numerous1 and ,i believe1 in most instances1 depending upon fungoid growths4 ,the destruction of vegetables by insects1 is of a very different nature to that produced by the fungi2 it would be as unreasonable to consider the consumption of corn and herbage by locusts1 as a disease of vegetation1 as the massacre and devouring of human beings by cannibals1 a disease of the human body4 ,it is true that insects are exceedingly destructive to plants1 but as far as ,i am able to obtain information1 they appear to be so chiefly by their voracious propensities2 they consume the structure of the plant in its entity1 and do not primarily interfere with its vitality4 ,the instance of the vibriones1 before-mentioned1 seems at first to be an exception #aed to the rule1 but this is rather apparent1 than real2 and it may be made to apply more as a confirmation1 than an obstacle to the vegetable theory3 for if we may fairly compare the diseases of animals with those of plants1 the existence of entozoa in the latter1 would be considered an essential point to be substantiated4 ,having now considered the question as to the infeasibility of supposing that chemical fermentation is the basis upon which a theory of diseases can be sustained1 and having shewn that life is inseparable from infection1 and miasmatic generation2--having explained the phenomena of the dispersion of diseases by comparison with the dispersion of plants1 and finally1 having demonstrated that the physiology and pathology of plants bear so close a relation to each other1 and that their epidemic affections depend upon minute organic germs1 ,i submit to the judgment of my readers1 whether there is not much reasonableness in the application of the facts to the inference--that living germs are the cause of epidemic disease in man and animals4 99 99 99 99 99 #aee ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,results ,,in ,,proof ,,of ,,the ,,tenableness ,,of ,,the ,,proposition4 -------- ,,section ,i4 ,,observations ,,on ,,some ,,of ,,the ,,laws ,,of ,,epidemic ,,diseases4 ,the results obtained by comparing certain facts connected with ,epidemic ,affections of animals1 with analogous affections in plants1 afford1 from the few instances ,i shall here notice1 a very strong presumption1 that analogous causes operate in the production of these affections4 ,i have already quoted from ,hecker1 to shew that previously to1 and during the ,epidemics of the ,middle ,ages1 the minuter forms of animal and vegetable life appeared to be called into existence1 much more abundantly than usual2 that famines prevailed in consequence of failure of cereal crops1 no doubt depending then1 as now1 upon the various forms of fungiferous growth4 ,i cannot refrain quoting here1 a passage or two from our old friend ,virgil2 for he confirms not only the fact of peculiar showers in #aef connexion with diseases1 but he also refers to the rust of corn1 thus3 #aej4 ,mox et frumentis labor additus2 ut mala culmos ,esset rubigo 444 444 ,intereunt segetes4 ,georg4 #a4 ,then3 #caa4 ,quid tempestates autumni et sidera dicam8 4 4 4 4 4 4 #cbb4 ,saepe etiam#fa immensum coelo venit agmen aquarum ,et foedam glomerant tempestatem imbribus atris ,collectae ex alto nubes4 ,georg4 #a4 ,the occurrence of black showers in this country has been observed during the present year1 and ,i understand that in the fenny countries of the ,east1 the corn has suffered much from the ,uredo4 ,i am not mentioning the circumstances as cause and effect1 but merely to call attention to the fact1 that unusual phenomena of this kind have been generally associated with disease of the animal and vegetable tribes4 ,the same causes also predispose plants as well as animals1 to epidemic attacks of disease4 ,the repeated observations in the public journals on the subject of ventilation1 drainage1 and over-crowding1 render all notice from me needless1 to shew that these1 though they do not produce the diseases #aeg treated of1 yet that under the influence of bad air1 bad drainage1 and over-crowding1 epidemics are fostered and spread4 ,lastly1 says the ,count ,philippo ,r'e1 ,i would remark that if bad cultivation1 and especially bad drainage1 does not produce bunt or smut1 it is certain that those fields1 the worst treated in these respects1 suffer the most from these diseases4 ,it has been remarked by many observers1 that a greater fecundity has attended upon ,pestilences1 and this has been proved by comparison1 that the births in proportion have far exceeded the ordinary limit4#fb ,in juxtaposition with this observation1 ,i will place the following1 not as a proof1 but as a remark made quite independently of the subject of which ,i am treating4 ,from the first the diseased ears are larger than the healthy ones1 and are sooner matured4 ,what appears singular1 but which ,i have not1 perhaps1 sufficiently verified1 is that the seeds are more abundant than in a sound ear4 #aeh ,now these are facts which require amplification1 and if these two alone should be shewn upon an extensive field of observation1 to apply not only to corn1 but to other members of the vegetable kingdom1 as ,i doubt not will be the case1 though ,i am not fully prepared to prove it1 it would be difficult to dissociate the fertility of the two living kingdoms from the operations of one and the same1 or an analogous law4 ,the epidemic diseases of plants are both infectious and contagious1 at times they are observed to be endemic only1 and then depending particularly upon some local causes4 ,this is a law of diseases which applies equally to those of men and animals4 ,in connexion with this law is another1 which1 as far as ,i am aware1 has not hitherto been noticed in connexion with plants4 ,the potato disease1 which excited so much interest and created so much anxiety for the poorer classes of society1 led the ,government of this country to employ the most learned men to investigate the subject1 in the hope of propounding some reasons which should explain the cause of the calamity1 and thereby deduce a method of eradicating the evil1 or1 in other words1 discover a cure for the disease4 ,many were the opinions as to the cause of the distemper1 which it were useless here to recount1 but a method was suggested1 to which most people1 ,i believe1 looked forward with great anticipations1 and this was to obtain native seed1 and to sow it on virgin soil4 ,was the end accomplished8 ,no4 #aei ,for though the seed was sown1 and the plants grew1 the disease still appeared among the newly imported individuals1 to as great an extent1 as among the native or domesticated plants4 ,as a parallel to this1 it may be stated1 that1 as regards either endemic or epidemic disease1 those persons newly arrived1 either in a district or country where these prevail1 are even more liable to them than the residents4#fc ,again1 ,i have learned1 that where the potato disease has been so bad as to render the crop almost valueless1 the best plan to be adopted is1 to allow the plants to remain in the earth1 and thus leave such as retain their germinating powers to come up spontaneously the following year4 ,i certainly saw one large field treated in this way1 yield a crop almost without disease4 #afj ,the seasoning1 in this instance1 seems to bear a comparison with the seasoning of animals and man1 under a variety of diseases1 which for a time renders them insusceptible of another attack4 ,it therefore does not appear so improbable1 that these affections may be regarded1 as ,unger1 the ,german botanist supposed1 the ,exanthemata1 or ,eruptive ,fevers of vegetables4 ,another feature seems to associate the ,epidemics of plants and animals1 in a manner suggestive of analogous causes operating in both instances4 ,the lungs of animals and the leaves of vegetables1 are their respiratory organs1 by means of which1 the blood in the one case and the sap in the other1 derive gas from the air1 and impart gas to it1 each taking what is thrown off by the other4 ,now the epidemics among vegetables1 have a remarkable tendency to exhibit their effects primarily on the leaves1 and particularly on those parts which are appropriated to the function of respiration4 ,it is from the stomates that many of the fungi commence to germinate1 and their fructification may be seen sprouting from the opening composed of a chink1 surrounded by a peculiar arrangement of cells1 which constitute the breathing apparatus of their victim4 ,in the earlier epidemics1 of which we read1 one of the most remarkable circumstances1 was the extraordinary influence the poisonous matter appeared to #afa exercise over the lungs1#fd and they again1 were the means of propagating the disease1 and spreading the contagious particles through the atmosphere1 for we read3 ,thus did the plague rage in ,avignon for six or eight weeks1 and the pestilential breath of the sick1 who expectorated blood1 caused a terrible contagion far and near1 for even the vicinity of those who had fallen ill of plague was certain death2 so that parents abandoned their infected children1 and all the ties of kindred were dissolved4#fe ,the like was seen in ,egypt4 ,here also inflammation of the lungs was predominant4 ,here too the breath of the sick spread a deadly contagion4 ,it is more than probable that all infectious matter obtains an entrance to the system through the lungs4 ,inspiring the air containing the pestilential semina is1 indeed1 the only plausible explanation of infection2 for though the skin is indubitably an absorbing #afb surface1 and capable of taking up and conveying to the blood any noxious matter applied to it1 yet it is far more probable that the lungs would effect this process with greater rapidity4 ,then the stomach1 the only other absorbing surface to which extraneous matter can be applied1 is not likely to be the part where the elements of disease would obtain an entrance to the system1 for many facts prove1 that infectious matter may be swallowed without any injurious consequences1 unless in a very concentrated state4 ,instances are not easily found of diseased matter having been swallowed1 except where diseased vegetables have formed under some combination of circumstances1 a portion of diet4#ff ,many facts are on record which prove the powerful effect of diseased grain when made into bread1 and taken for any length time as a principal article of food4 ,the history of ,ergot of ,rye is too fresh in the memory of most people to require more than an allusion here4 ,the stomach had no power over the secale1 its poisonous properties were retained1 after having been submitted to the digestive process1 as was evidenced by the abortions and gangrenes it occasioned4 ,but diseased wheat is also capable of inducing #afc gangrene1 and it is more than probable1 that many diseases might be traced to the use of infected grain of various kinds4 ,an interesting account of a family who lived at ,wattisham1 near ,stowmarket1 in ,suffolk1 and all of whom suffered more or less from living on bread made of smutty wheat1 may be found in the ,philosophical ,transactions4 ,the mother of this family and five of the children1 consisting of three girls and two boys1 all suffered from gangrene of the extremities2 the father lost the nails from his hands1 and had ulceration of two of his fingers4#fg ,dr4 ,woollaston wrote thus in a letter on this case3 ,the corn with which they made their bread was certainly very bad3 it was wheat that had been cut in a rainy season1 and had lain on the ground till many of the grains were black and totally decayed1 but many other poor families in the same village made use of the same corn without receiving any injury from it4 ,one man lost the use of his arm for some time1 and still imagines himself that he was afflicted with the same disorder as ,downing's family4 ,it is not unlikely this was the case1 for numbness and loss of power was one of the well marked characters of the disease4 ,what other afflictions may be due to diseased vegetation and adulterated articles of food1 and what loss of life may accrue from cheap and adulterated #afd drugs and chemicals is hardly yet dreamt of4#fh ,the systematic practice of adulteration of almost every article of diet which comes to table has become a serious question for the legislature to consider4 ,take only the article of milk1 upon which the young children of large towns and cities1 make their chief meals1 with the addition of bread4 ,how much milk comes into ,london from the country1 how much is obtained from stall and grain-fed cows in the metropolis1 and how much is said to be consumed1 would be an interesting calculation4 ,it is pretty well known that a mixture is sold by which a retailer of milk may increase his supply by one-third or one-half4 ,it was discovered in ,paris that the brains of animals1 when prepared in a particular manner1 formed1 when mixed with a certain proportion of milk and water1 a very fine and deceptive cream2 in that city this system was carried on to a considerable extent4 ,i could not help alluding to these facts while speaking of diseased grain1 for who shall say to what extent a miller in a large way of business1 may be able to work in1 as it is called1 a considerable amount of smutty corn in the manufacture of flour8 ,now1 as diseased grain is known #afe to induce abortion1 it is impossible to tell how small a portion may in some cases produce the effect2 we may therefore say with ,thomas of ,malmesbury1 ,there is no action of man in this life which is not the beginning of so long a chain of consequences1 as that no human providence is high enough to give us a prospect to the end4#fi ,to return1--associated with these observations are other facts of considerable weight4 ,before and during pestilences1 abortions are more frequent than in ordinary times2 infectious and contagious diseases induce abortion2 besides this1 and independently of disease1 conditions of the atmosphere have been known to exist when abortion has been an epidemic affection2 of this ,dr4 ,copland says1 to certain states of the atmosphere only can be attributed those frequent abortions sometimes observed which have even assumed an epidemic form1 and of which ,hippocrates1 ,fischer1 ,tessier1 ,desormeaux1 and others have made mention4 ,with this reference ,i will close the subject of comparison between the affections of the breathing apparatus in animals and plants1 merely alluding to the probability that under some conditions of atmosphere1 independently of heat1 c4 vegetables without any other assignable cause will become abortive4 99 99 99 99 99 #aff ,,section ,,ii4 ,,what ,,is ,,the ,,nature ,,of ,,those ,,poisons ,,which ,,most ,,resemble ,,the ,,morbid ,,poisons ,,in ,,their ,,effects ,,on ,,the ,,body8 ,in the early part of this book1 ,i considered the nature of poisons generally1 and had occasion to remark upon the characters which separated poisons into two distinct classes4 #ast1 ,those which have the power of self multiplication2 and #bnd1 ,those destitute of this property4 ,of the first we have seen that the poisons of epidemic diseases multiply both in and out of the body4 ,the poisons of infectious diseases1 not usually epidemic1 do the same4 ,those of endemic affections1 such as ague and some fevers1 usually become multiplied out of the body only1 but under some circumstances1 and peculiar atmospheric conditions1 they may be also multiplied within the body4 ,the amount of these poisons necessary to produce their specific effects1 may be inappreciable4 ,of the second class1 there are two kinds1 those derived from the organic kingdom and those derived from the inorganic kingdom4 ,of these1 the amount necessary to produce their specific effects is appreciable and pretty well known4 ,but among those poisons1 consisting of organic #afg products1 there is one which seems to hold an intermediate place4 ,this is derived from one of the ,fungals1 and as it takes this remarkable position as a link of connexion between the two classes of poisons1 ,i may be excused quoting a passage of some length upon this agent1 from ,dr4 ,lindley's ,vegetable ,kingdom4 ,one of the most poisonous of our fungi1 is the ,amanita muscaria1 so called from its power of killing flies1 when steeped in milk4 ,even this is eaten in ,kamchatka1 with no other than intoxicating effects1 according to the following account by ,langsdorf1 as translated by ,greville4 ,this variety of ,amanita muscaria1 is used by the inhabitants of the north-eastern parts of ,asia in the same manner as wine1 brandy1 arrack1 opium1 c4 is by other nations4--,the most singular effect of the amanita is the influence it possesses over the urine4 ,it is said1 that from time immemorial1 the inhabitants have known that the fungus imparts an intoxicating quality to that secretion1 which continues for a considerable time after taking it4 ,for instance1 a man moderately intoxicated to-day1 will by the next morning have slept himself sober1 but 7as is the custom7 by taking a teacup of his urine1 he will be more powerfully intoxicated than he was the preceding day4 ,it is1 therefore1 not uncommon for confirmed drunkards to preserve their urine1 as a precious liquor against a scarcity of the fungus4 ,the intoxicating property of the urine is capable of #afh being propagated2 for every one who partakes of it has his urine similarly affected4 ,thus with a very few amanitae1 a party of drunkards may keep up their debauch for a week4 ,this property of the amanita1 at once places it in a separate category from all other organic poisons1 it has yet to be shewn upon what this intoxicating fungus depends for its activity4 ,whether some secretion is formed in the tissue of the plant1 or whether some new arrangement of the particles of matter or modification of the sporules1 is brought about by entering the system1 it is impossible to say4 ,langsdorf states that the small deep-coloured specimens of amanita1 and thickly covered with warts1 are said to be more powerful than those of a larger size and paler colour4 ,as the effect is not produced until from one to two hours after swallowing the bolus1 and as a pleasant intoxication may be obtained by this agent for a whole day1 and from one dose only1 there is a defined line between this and the ordinary narcotics and stimulants in common use4 ,that the digestive powers of the stomach have no influence over the intoxicating properties of the plant1 is manifested in the fact1 that the active principle passes into the urine1 not only not deteriorated but apparently increased1 for1 as we have seen1 a teacup of the urine from a man1 intoxicated by taking the amanita into his stomach1 will cause him to be more powerfully intoxicated than by the #afi original dose4 ,we have1 therefore1 but two conjectures left for consideration1 either the original intoxicating principle is excreted from the system in a condensed form1 in which case its indestructibility by digestion1 makes it approach the ordinary organic poisons1 or there must be an increase of the toxic agent1 in which case we must suppose a reproductive process having taken place in the system4 ,there is1 says ,dr4 ,mitchell1 in the wild regions of our western country1 a disease called the milk sickness1 the trembles1 the tires1 the slows1 the stiff-joints1 the puking fever1 c4 ,the animals affected with this disease1 stray irregularly1 apparently without motive2 they lose their power of attention1 and finally tremble1 stagger1 and die4 ,when other animals--men1 dogs1 cats1 poultry1 crows1 buzzards1 and hogs1 drink the milk or eat the flesh of a diseased cow1 they suffer in a somewhat similar manner4 ,this disease is attributed by ,dr4 ,mitchell to the animals having grazed on pasture contaminated with mildew1 and the resemblance to the effects of the amanita1 together with the persistence of the specific principle within the fluids and tissues of the body1 render it more than probable that to some fungoid growth1 is due the peculiar toxic effects here noticed4 ,further3 ,the animals made sick by the beef of the first one1 have been in their turn the cause of a like affection in others2 so that three or four have thus fallen victims successively4 ,de ,graaf states1 that butter #agj made from the milk of diseased cows1 though heated until it caught fire1 did not lose its deleterious properties4 ,the urine of diseased animals1 collected and reduced by evaporation1 produced the characteristic symptoms4 ,all these facts point to some peculiarity in the properties of matter not yet investigated or at least not explained4 ,if we may assume that reproduction is here an element of the persistence and apparent multiplication of active matter1 ,i know only of one instance to compare with it4 ,a gentleman about to deliver a lecture on the properties of arsenic1 and its history generally1 made two solutions of a given quantity of arsenious acid1 in the following manner4 ,he took a certain amount of distilled water1 and the same of filtered ,thames water1 and made his solutions of arsenic by separate boilings1 he then as soon as possible placed the liquids in identical bottles1 carefully prepared for their reception4 ,in the one which contained the arsenic boiled in river water1 the hygrocrocis is now growing1 while that boiled in distilled water remains perfectly limpid and free from any vegetable production4 ,there can scarcely be a doubt1 that the filtration of river water was not sufficiently purifying to remove the minute spores of some lower forms of vegetation1 which not only live in arsenic but have resisted the temperature employed in boiling an arsenical solution to saturation4 ,as to the first class1 or truly reproductive and #aga morbid poisons1 the most heterogenous ideas have from all time existed4 ,i have introduced the notice of the above poisons1 viz4 the ,amanita1 and that which engenders the milk sickness1 to compare the results of the morbid poisons on the human body with them1 and also to associate them with the effects of diseased grain4 ,from the ,amanita and that other fungoid matter which is said to produce the milk sickness1 there appears to be a purely toxic action on the system1 but in the instance of diseased grain1 a blood disease1 ending in gangrene1 or a specific and peculiar action of the generative organs is the consequence1 and where the latter occurs1 the poison usually expends itself on these parts1 either by inducing abortion1 or augmenting the catamenial secretion4 ,now1 the morbid poisons1 if studied only in their results1 shew that there is a combination of these two actions4 ,there is usually1 in the first place1 a toxic or poisonous action1 and secondly1 a deteriorating or decomposing action on the blood1 by which there is a tendency to low or asthenic inflammation and gangrene4 ,it matters not what form of fever we take as an illustration1 whether intermittent1 pestilential1 or exanthematous1 either will serve the purpose of shewing how completely the effects of vegetable organic poisons resemble those which for the sake of distinction 7,i suppose7 have been denominated ,morbid ,poisons4 ,take an attack from the paludal poison4 ,it is #agb usually ushered in with head-ache1 weariness1 pains in the limbs1 and thirst1 with other symptoms2 all these are indicative of a poisonous agent in the blood3 then come the full phenomena of the disease at a longer or shorter interval1 and tending ultimately to destroy some organ of the body4 ,the mind suffers during the course of the attack1 and delirium occasionally happens4 ,in severe cases of this disease1 which were more frequent formerly than now1 coma1 delirium1 and frenzy were observed at the commencement of the attack1 and a tendency to rapid disorganization of one or several of the viscera4 ,if we take the effects of poison of ,erysipelas1 of ,scarlet ,fever1 or ,plague1 in each we find at the onset more or less general derangement of the system1 usually with cerebral disturbance and disordered action of all the dynamic forces of the body1 which clearly indicate the action of a poison2 then1 unless some favourable symptoms arise1 the blood exhibits a steady advance towards disorganization1 and sphacelation of one or more tissues or parts of the body ensues4 ,in ,erysipelas the force of the diseased action is expended on the skin1 and subcutaneous cellular tissue2 in ,scarlet ,fever the fauces ulcerate1 and slough and the parotids suppurate2 in the ,plague there is a general tendency to putrefaction1 and the formation of glandular abscesses with sphacelas4 ,without going any further into this matter1 for my present intention is merely to draw #agc notice to certain facts1 let me now ask1 whether or not1 do the poisons of the ,ergot1 the ,uredo1 and the ,amanita1 exhibit more analogy in their action on the nervous system1 the blood and the tissues1 than any other poisonous agents with which we are acquainted8 ,if the whole range of the lower fungi could be examined in reference to their operation on the blood1 as decomposers of organic compounds1--if experiments could be made1 by which the properties of fungoid matter could be detected1 ,i would venture to say the whole of the phenomena of these diseases could be readily comprehended and their intricacies unravelled4 ,we know that the fungi are poisonous1 that at times and seasons1 and under variations of climate1 they vary in their effects1 and perhaps lose altogether these properties4 ,we know that the fungi produce gangrene of the tissues1 and disorganization of the blood2 we know that their spores pervade the atmosphere1 and are ready1 under favouring conditions1 to increase and multiply2 we know that they are ubiquitous1 and that those conditions most favourable to their development1 are exactly such as are proved to foster and engender disease1 and above all1 they have been proved to be the elements of some diseases in man1 in animals1 and in plants4 ,can as much be said of any other known agents1 animate or inanimate1 comprised in our category8 ,it has been said1 we do not see after death1--the #agd interlacing mycilium1 or the sprouting pileus2 therefore the fungi are not the agents of disease--it has been said that carbonic acid and alcohol are not found as products of diseased action--consequently disease is not a fermentative process4 ,in all cases1 says ,liebig1 where the strictest investigation has failed to demonstrate the presence of organic beings in the contagion of a miasm1 or contagious disease1 the hypothesis that such beings have cooperated1 or do cooperate in the morbid process1 must be rejected as totally void of foundation and support4 ,much as ,i admire the genius of this great man1 it is difficult to refrain from remarking1 that ,i doubt if any of his great discoveries would have been made1 if1 in the first instance1 hypotheses had not formed the basis of all his researches4 ,it has been said1 that casual conjunctions in chemistry1 gave us most of our valuable discoveries3 and it is from casual conjunctions that hypotheses are usually formed1 the working out proves either their fallacy or their truth1 but to say that an hypothesis has no foundation1 until demonstrated to be true1 is rather knocking down argument4 ,and who1 let me ask1 has been more prolific of hypotheses than our continental neighbour8 ,yet he1 according to his mode of reasoning1 would sweep away all such words from the vocabularies of philosophers4 ,what foundation has the chemical hypothesis of disease1 when it fails to explain the most important element #age of contagious and infectious diseases3 viz4 the reproductive property of their germs8 ,it is perhaps necessary to say something in explanation of the sudden deaths arising from morbid poisons4 ,they may occur from two causes4 ,one being the result of a concentrated amount of poison germs being inhaled into the lungs1 and acting as an ordinary toxic agent2 and the other1 which ,i put only hypothetically1 the consequence of the rapid evolution of gas in the vessels arising from a sudden decomposition of blood1 as it passes through the lungs4 ,the only authority ,i have for this supposition1 is the fact that the blood after death1 from pestilential affections1 is found to be far advanced towards decomposition2 that in ,paris last year1 two patients were bled while suffering from ,cholera1 and with the small quantity of blood which flowed1 bubbles of air also escaped3#gj and besides this1 it was demonstrated by ,mr4 ,herapath1 that ammonia was given off from ,cholera patients1 both by the lungs and skin4 ,these facts1 though they are not conclusive1 nevertheless render it probable that such an explanation is not entirely out of reason--especially too1 when we know how fatal are the effects of uncombined air1 when it enters the vessels near to the heart4 99 99 99 99 99 #agf ,,section ,,iii4 ,,what ,,results ,,do ,,we ,,obtain ,,from ,,the ,,effects ,,of ,,remedial ,,agents1 ,,in ,,proof ,,of ,,the ,,hypothesis8 ,i have here used the word hypothesis1 because1 having so far advanced in the enquiry1 ,i trust sufficient has been said to render the term applicable4 ,under the term remedial agents1 ,i shall include all those causes1 whether natural or artificial1 which tend to neutralize or destroy the germs of infection1 or miasmatic poison1 whether this be effected out of or within the body4 ,first1 then1 let us consider the results of drainage and cultivation in removing the causes of endemic disease4 ,one well authenticated case is as good as a thousand4 ,i will take one1 which1 from its source1 will be received as unexceptionable2 and from its association with a very learned and amusing book1 will be accepted as an agreeable reminder of the many pleasant hours spent in the perusal of the poet ,southey's ,doctor4 ,doncaster is built upon a peninsula1 or ridge of land1 about a mile across1 having a gentle slope from east to west1 and bounded on the west by the river2 this ridge is composed of three strata2 to wit1 of the alluvial soil deposited by the river in former #agg ages1 and of limestone on the north and west2 and of sandstone to the south and east4 ,to the south of this neck of land1 lies a tract called ,potteric ,carr1 which is much below the level of the river1 and was a morass1 or range of fens when our ,doctor first took up his abode in ,doncaster4 ,this tract extends about four miles in length1 and nearly three in breadth1 and the security which it afforded against an attack on that side1 while the river protected the peninsula by its semicircular bend on the other1 was evidently one reason why the ,romans fixed upon the site of ,doncaster for a station4 ,in ,brockett's ,glossary of ,north ,country words1 ,carr is interpreted to mean 'flat marshy land1' 'a pool or lake2' but the etymology of the word is yet to be discovered4 ,these fens were drained and enclosed pursuant to an ,act of ,parliament1 which was obtained for that purpose in the year #agff4 ,three principal drains were then cut1 fourteen feet wide1 and about four miles long1 into which the water was conducted from every part of the ,carr southward1 to the little river ,torne1 at ,rossington ,bridge1 whence it flows into the ,trent4 ,before these drainings1 the ground was liable to frequent inundations2 and about the centre there was a decoy for wild ducks2 there is still a deep water there of considerable extent1 in which very large pike and eels are found4 ,the soil1 which was so boggy at first that horses were lost in attempting to drink at the drains1 has been brought #agh into good cultivation1 7as all such ground may be7 to the great improvement of the district2 for till this improvement was effected1 intermittent fevers and sore throats were prevalent there1 and they have ceased from the time the land was drained4 ,the most unhealthy season now1 is the spring1 when cold winds1 from the north and north-east1 usually prevail during some six weeks2 at other times ,doncaster is considered to be a healthy place4 ,it has been observed that when endemic787 diseases arrive there1 they uniformly come from the south2 and that the state of the weather may be foretold from a knowledge of what it has been at a given time in ,london1 making an allowance of about three days1 for the chance of winds4 ,here1 as in all places which lie upon a great and frequented road1 the transmission of disease has been greatly facilitated by the increase of travelling4 ,i feel certain of being excused for transcribing this long passage from ,southey4 ,it would have been impossible to convey its whole meaning without giving it entire4 ,the continuation of the chapter is no less instructive and applicable to our subject1 though more particularly so to an extension of the enquiry4 ,the sore throats and intermittents1 from which ,doncaster has been freed1 by the drainage of ,potteric ,carr1 informs us at once that decomposing matter is the material by which the poison of fever is vivified and sustained1 the wet and boggy state of the soil is just the condition1 when no drainage exists1 to bring into activity the germs of #agi disease1 which otherwise would lie latent4 ,so satisfied and acquainted are we with the elements necessary for the production of fever1 that we might as certainly bring about an endemic intermittent by forming an artificial bog1 as we could be sure of growing mushrooms by making a bed in the manner laid down by gardeners for this purpose4 ,dr4 ,lindley also says1 the ,polyporus fomentarius has been artificially produced in ,germany1 but merely by placing wood in a favourable situation1 and keeping it well moistened4 ,five or six crops were obtained in the year4 ,let warmth1 moisture1 darkness1 and decaying matter be given1 and inanimate disintegrated particles will soon be converted into definite forms and combinations instinct with life4 ,it is by the unseen forms of living beings1 that the atmosphere is preserved from becoming charged with deadly gases2 they take the first rank in the great scheme of animated beings1 the plant first1 and then the animal4 ,let the earth bring forth grass4 ,let there be lights in the firmament4 ,let the waters bring forth the moving creature1 and fowl that may fly1 and ,let the earth bring forth the cattle1 the creeping thing1 and the beast4 ,this is the order of creation1 of living things1 and the earth was prepared by vegetation for the animal world4 ,the work of conversion is accomplished by vegetation2 and this is consumed for the construction of higher organizations4 ,the laws which govern and control the universe1 #ahj are as definite and as wonderful among invisible atoms1 as those which regulate the enormous masses floating in space2 and the time will come when the advancing intellect of man will measure and weigh the morbid poisons1 as he measures and weighs the stars4 ,why should the laws of ,epidemics be less understood1 than the laws which govern the course of comets8 ,the aspirations of man have led him to penetrate the heavens1 which charm and inspire him2 he studies rather the more violent disturbing elements of nature1 the thunder-cloud and the fire of heaven1 than the silent pestilence which steals over the earth4 ,i cannot conceive it possible that the ,intellects1 which are occupied in procuring means for the ,majesty of this empire to issue her mandates with the velocity of a spirit to the nethermost parts of the earth1 should be incapable of solving so deeply interesting a mystery as the causes and nature of pestilential diseases4 ,it would seem that man prefers to issue a mandate of destruction many thousand miles distant1 than to disarm the pestilence at his door4 ,it is barely a century since ,galvani observed the twitchings in the muscles of a frog's leg1 and the battery1 still named after him1 has already become an agent of instantaneous communication between places many miles distant4 ,but how many centuries have passed away1 each one succeeding the other1 with its millions of victims to epidemics8 ,and where are the remedies for the evils8 ,drainage and cleanliness1 with all their advantages1 were better understood and more fully carried out by the ancient #aha ,romans than by ourselves2 there are monuments1 though crumbling to decay1 to tell us of the vast enterprise of these people and of the value they set upon a healthy and vigorous constitution1 and how well they understood the means of warding of disease4 ,cultivation and drainage are now fully understood to be the basis by which a healthy condition of air is to be obtained1 next to that1 cleanliness and ventilation2 if either be neglected a sickly1 mouldy1 and unwholesome contamination of atmosphere ensues2 the odour of a bog is proverbially mouldy1 and so is that of an ill-ventilated house or cellar2 dryness1 or the fresh pleasant scent of clean water1 are the antagonists of these2 the aromatic odours of vegetation are opponents of putrefaction1 and consequently of the development of the lower forms of life4 ,all empyreumatic matters prevent mouldiness and decomposition2 and odours arrest and prevent the growth of mouldiness4 ,the oil of birch1 with which the ,russia leather is impregnated1 and which gives it so pleasant an odour1 effectually prevents mouldiness1 and consequently decay4 ,lindley says1 ,it is a most remarkable circumstance1 and one which deserves particular enquiry1 that the growth of the minute fungi1 which constitute what is called mouldiness1 is effectually prevented by any kind of perfume4#ga ,cedar has #ahb been used1 from time immemorial1 for a like purpose2 and ,i doubt not the recommendation of ,virgil1 before quoted1 in reference to the burning of cedar1 was founded on some practical utility of this kind1 though its modus operandi was unknown to him4 ,allied to these is a curious circumstance1 and worthy attention4 ,i copy the following from an old work on ,pestilences4 ,it is remarkable that when the ,plague raged in ,london1 ,bucklersbury1 which stood in the very heart of the city1 was free from that distemper2 the reason given for it is1 that it was chiefly inhabited by druggists and apothecaries1 the scent of whose drugs kept away the infection1 which were so unnatural to the pestilential insects1 that they were killed or driven away by the strong smell of some sorts of them4 ,the smell of rue1 and the smoke of tobacco1 were prescribed as remedies against the infection2 but especially tar and pitch barrels1 which it was imagined preserved ,limehouse1 and some of the dock-yards from infection4#gb ,pitch and tar dealers are everywhere spoken of as being remarkably exempt from infectious diseases4 ,cold infusion of tar was used in our colonies as a prophylactic against the ,small ,pox4 ,bishop #ahc ,berkeley was induced to try it when this disease raged in his neighbourhood4 ,the trial fully answered expectation--for all those who took tar-water1 either escaped the disease1 or had it very slightly4 ,tan yards and places in the immediate vicinity1 are said to be free from pestilences4 ,the tanners of ,bermondsey are said to have escaped the ,plague of ,london1 and one person only died in ,gutter ,lane1 where was a tan yard4 ,the tanners of ,rome are also stated to have been free from ,plague4 ,dr4 ,mc,lean refers to the exemption of tanners at ,cairo4 ,tannin is prejudicial to most vegetables1--but ,dr4 ,lindley says it is not always so to fungi4 ,a species of ,rhizomorpha is often developed in tan pits4 ,i should imagine that neither plants nor insects would be found very abundantly1 where tannin prevails2 yet we find that the gall-nut is formed for the protection of an insect from injury by weather1 and as a temporary means of sustenance4 ,the custom of fumigating with odoriferous substances1 does not therefore appear upon this view of the matter to be destitute of importance2 indeed1 the universal practice stamps it at once1 as an efficacious remedy for the purposes of disinfection4 ,the introduction of chlorine fumigation1 seems to have superseded1 in a great measure1 the use of fragrant herbs and woods2 and it is questionable whether the substitution be altogether desirable or #ahd advantageous4 ,many scents may be agreeably and usefully employed1 with much less chance of annoyance to the patient1 and considerably less injury to articles of furniture1 c4 ,the fumigations of sulphurous acid and chlorine are1 perhaps1 more adapted as disinfectants in uninhabited apartments2--their power to destroy vegetation1 is well known4 ,they have been used1 chiefly1 with the idea of neutralizing gaseous exhalations1 particularly chlorine1 as it tends to combine with hydrogen1 to form hydrochloric acid1 and then to unite with ammoniacal matters1 forming hydrochlorate of ammonia4 ,this1 supposing noxious or pestilential effluvia consisted of the ammoniacal exudations variously combined1 was an exceedingly efficacious method of rendering them inert2 but as we feel convinced that no ammoniacal compound could possibly be the cause of infection1 we must look to the influence these gases possess over other forms of matter1 and as they are so destructive1 even in minute quantities1 to vegetable existence1 it is possible that their beneficial effects may be due to this property4 ,the immediate neighbourhood of gas works is prejudicial to vegetation1 ,i imagine1 from the amount of sulphurous vapours1 and to this has been attributed the exemption of persons employed in these works4 ,many other instances might be cited of a similar nature4 ,i have now to speak of medicinal agents1 and here comes a considerable difficulty4 #ahe ,if we might believe all that has been written on the sure and certain remedies for the ills that man is heir to1 we should be led to acknowledge that both nature and art were prodigal in antidotes and specifics4 ,the all-bountiful hand of nature1 ,i do not doubt1 has at the same time scattered the seeds of good and of evil4 ,the fertilizing showers fall to irrigate the soil1 and produce food and nourishment to man2 here and there is the reeking morass feeding unnatural vegetation1 and if man takes up his abode in its vicinity1 the rains which made it unhealthy1 have also made it highly fertile2 by labour and cultivation he may convert the mephitic bog into a waving corn-field1 and the seeds of life and sustenance be made to supplant the seeds of death and corruption4 ,it is generally believed1 that where there are particular and specific diseases1 there also may be found appropriate and specific remedies2 the discoveries of chemistry1 it is not improbable1 may in some respects have retarded the progress of natural medicine4 ,in the early ages of the world1 the healing plant must have formed the staple of medical commerce1 for though ,tubal ,cain#gc has been considered as the first surgical instrument maker1 because he was the first artificer in brass and iron1 we have not discovered that chemical compounds entered into the composition of physic1 till very #ahf many years after his time4 ,to the alchemists we owe the science of chemistry1 and much of the physic of the present day may be traced to them4 ,the multiplicity of ingredients which at one time entered into the composition of one dose of physic could only be spoken of under the title of legion4 ,who shall specify the active and curative ingredient 7if there be one71 when from five to a hundred may have been exhibited at the same time8 ,it has been the pride of our physicians1 that the pharmacopoeia has been simplified2 it has not reached its most simple form yet4 ,that many simple plants have specific and wonderful power over disease1 is an indubitable fact1 but ,i firmly believe that the laudable1 though mistaken efforts of physicians to improve their effect by various combinations1 have been the means of throwing many valuable medicines into oblivion2 ,i must also add1 that cheap physic and adulterations have had no small share too in the banishment of much valuable physic from ordinary practice4 ,it has been believed1 and ,i think with much reason1 that a thorough search into the qualities of plants1 would shew that they are capable of affording not only great relief1 but also effectual and specific remedies4 ,that they are not already found1 is rather an argument that we have not been sufficiently inquisitive1 than that there are no such plants endued with these virtues4 ,of the result obtained by medical treatment1 in cases of epidemic or infectious disease1 it is most #ahg difficult to speak1 but as my province here is only to shew that living germs are the morbific agents1 ,i have but to refer to such remedies as have been most extolled in controlling these affections4 ,the disinfectants have already been mentioned in a cursory manner4 ,an enumeration only of simple medicines used during the late ,epidemic1 shall conclude this work1 as the treatment in former times could not by any possibility furnish satisfactory information4 ,aromatics and fragrant stimulants have in all times taken the foremost rank with acids1 such as vinegar1 lime and lemon juice4 ,mr4 ,guthrie's adoption of lemon juice in preference to bark1 which he said made him worse while suffering from an attack of fever1 during the ,peninsular campaign1 and his speedy recovery from the disease1 though not from its effects1 shews1 when many others can bear equal testimony to its value1 that such a remedy though simple is not to be despised4 ,but to the late ,epidemic4 ,dr4 ,stevens' saline treatment1 appears1 on the whole1 to have been the most successful4 ,common salt was used both medically and dietetically1 and formed the greatest bulk of the medicine employed4 ,chlorate of potash and carbonate of soda were added to the medicine4 ,the nitro-hydrochloric acid was used with success at ,st4 ,thomas's ,hospital4 ,dr4 ,copland used chlorate of potash1 bicarb4 soda1 hydrochloric1 ether1 and camphor water4 ,dr4 ,ayre's calomel treatment had as many1 if #ahh not more1 opponents than advocates4 ,phosphorus had several advocates4 ,creasote and camphor were lauded by some4 ,the beneficial operation of all these remedies might be explained on the theory here supposed1 that living germs are the cause of ,epidemic disease1 but the specific action of any one remedy has not yet had sufficient attention or trial to enable me to make any deductions of a satisfactory or conclusive nature4 ,in the uncertainty which generally prevailed as to the best method of treating ,cholera patients1 ,i was induced 7for reasons stated in a pamphlet published last year7 to try the efficacy of sulphur1 which had been extolled as a specific4 ,in its effects ,i was not disappointed2 but as the results are already before the public1 ,i need not do more than refer to it among other remedies4 ,i did not contemplate even alluding to this subject1 as it would extend far beyond my intended limits4 ,this portion of the enquiry would be more properly carried out by keeping records of cases1 treated in accordance with the view attempted to be established1 and ,i have not the slightest hesitation in saying1 that the most ample success would ultimately attend a well directed practice1 based upon the principles inculcated in these pages4 99 99 99 99 99 #ahi ,,conclusion4 ,in making the foregoing sketch1 ,i have attempted to put together some ideas on a subject1 which has for the last few years been a theme for meditation in leisure hours1 viz4 ,what are the causes of ,epidemic1 ,endemic1 and ,infectious ,diseases8 ,the occurrence of ,epidemic ,cholera last year in this country1 awakened a spirit of enquiry4 ,where there is unrest1 whatever may be the cause1 there also is disquiet and discontent4 ,when the oracles of the age were consulted in the emergency1 the discordant answers perplexed and confused the anxious searcher after truth4 ,in the spring of last year1 when the enemy was approaching1 unseen and unheard1 and the thousands of unconscious victims1 who are now lying in their graves1 were faithfully trusting and fully relying on the heads of our profession1 and the resources of our art1 what was the state of our defences1 and what the nature or character of our resistance8 ,one considerable body of men would discharge from a little tube of glass1 a host of almost invisible globular atoms of sugar1 said to be as potent and inscrutably operative as the unseen enemy4 ,these infinitesimal practitioners assured the people that they had powerful means of subduing the disease1 #aij but even they differed among themselves1 though they carried out to the fullest extent the doctrine of their leader1 similia similibus1 which we may suppose to refer in this case to the minuteness of the opposing armamenta4 ,without1 however1 agreeing with this school1 ,i may quote a passage from ,dr4 ,curie1 which is1 alas6 too true3 ,we have shewn1 as they must 7allopathists71 and many of them do acknowledge1 that they have no fixed basis1 no natural law upon which their treatment rests4 ,who can deny the force of this observation8 ,sheltered by a principle1 it matters not how fallacious1 a man is placed as behind a barrier4 ,if with any reason it could be shewn that the infinitesimal doses1 could by no possibility effect a cure in ,cholera2 if it could be demonstrated by any line of argument1 that a poison1 a living poison1 circulates with the blood1 or lodges in the tissues1 the homaeopathist must fall2 his electricity and mineral magnetism1 and powerful concentration of life power towards the digestive canal1 will stand for what they are worth4 ,that minute doses of medicine can exert an active influence over the body is not to be denied1 but these must consist of powerful drugs1 as arnica1 aconite1 and nux vomica1 with others1 and it is more than probable1 that of such medicines1 an inconceivably small amount may produce a specific effect upon some portion of the organic nervous system4 ,how is it that a dose of nitre or digitalis1 can #aia convert cheerfulness into low spirits1 or a grain of red sulphuret of antimony1 excite warmth and lively spirits8#gd ,why should indigo dyers become melancholy1 and scarlet dyers choleric8#ge ,we do not know4 ,but there is one thing we most certainly do know1 that a poison may be disarmed by an antidote1 and the amount of the latter must be in proportion to that of the former1 and as epidemic and contagious diseases do most unquestionably depend upon poisons of a specific nature1 and of great amount and activity1 an infinitesimal remedy1 however it may claim to direct and control the organic forces1 under slight and ordinary disturbances1 can be no more effectual in destroying the poison of fever1 or small pox1 than in neutralizing arsenic or prussic acid4 ,the uncertainty which generally prevails as to the treatment of ,epidemic diseases1 ,fevers1 c4 induced me to put together the notions which are contained in these pages1 in the hope of leading to some definite ideas of the causes of these affections1 and consequently to a more uniform and scientific mode of treating them4 ,i have endeavoured to shew that reproduction is a phenomenon inseparable from morbific matter1 and that in all probability the vegetable kingdom is the source of the germs4 #aib ,the train of argument adopted is such as appeared to me most natural for such an enquiry1 and it rests now only with those who are capable of deciding whether such a course1 though 7,i am sensibly aware7 not without many faults in conception and execution1 is calculated to advance the science of medicine and the interests of mankind4 ,the real tree of knowledge1 possesses in the spongioles of its roots1 an elective property1 by which truth alone can enter2 nourished and sustained by this1 it sends a fragrant incense and breathing odour on high1 and dispels the mists of ignorance and superstition4 ,in natural causes and reasonable deductions we must seek for instruction and solid information1 for in over-straining either nature or art1 deformity and error must inevitably be the result4 ,,the ,,end4 ,,norman ,,and ,,skeen1 ,,printers1 ,,maiden ,,lane1 ,,covent ,,garden4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,notes #a ,it matters little how vague and false hypotheses may appear at first3 experiment will gradually reduce and correct them1 and all that is required1 is industry to elaborate the proof1 and impartiality to secure it from distortion4--,sewell ,on the ,cultivation of the ,intellect4 #b ,it is stated by ,mr4 ,crosse1 of ,norwich1 that vaccination was adopted in ,denmark1 and made compulsory in #ahjj4 ,after the year #ahjh ,small ,pox no longer existed there1 and was a thing totally unknown2 whereas during the twelve years preceding the introduction of the preventive disease1 #e1ejj persons died of the ,small ,pox in ,copenhagen alone4--,dr4 ,watson's ,lectures4 ,dr4 ,blick1 an intelligent ,danish physician1 corroborated the above statement to ,dr4 ,watson himself in the year #ahch4 #c ,philosophy of ,life1 ,lecture #f1 translated by the ,rev4 ,a4 ,j4 ,w4 ,morrison1 ,m4,a4 #d ,the following ,i quote from ,dr4 ,fuller on ,small ,pox and ,measles3-- ,to this purpose some 7and particularly ,kircherus7 are of opinion that animalcules have been the causes of malignant and pestilential fevers in epidemic times1 which differ in essence and symptoms1 according to the nature and venoms of those creatures4 ,thus the atmosphere and air is filled both from above and beneath with innumerable millions of millions of species or corpuscles1 aporrhoeas1 steams1 vapours1 fumes1 dust1 little insects1 c4 all which make it such a wonderful chaotic compost of things that contains the seeds of good and evil to man as surpasseth the understanding 7as ,i suppose7 of even the highest order of archangels4 #e ,i learn from an undoubted authority that the cow when slack of health eats with avidity the field parsley2 the sheep under similar circumstances seeks the ivy1 and the goat the plantain4 ,from an equally good source ,i have the following3 that rabbits and hares1 when they are what is commonly called pot-gutted1 seek the green broom1 though at a distance of twenty miles4 #f ,my settled opinion is1 that in regard every effect is necessarily such as its cause2 it must needs be that every sort of venomous fevers is produced by its proper and peculiar species of virus4 ,and that the manner and symptoms of every such fever is not so much from the particular constitution of the sick2 as from the different nature and genius of their specific venom which caused them4 ,and ,i conceive that venomous febrile matters differ not in degree of intenseness only1 but in essence and toto genere also2 and that venomous fevers are for the most part contagious4--,thomas ,fuller1 ,m4 ,d4 #agcj4 ,another important class of organic poisons are those which when introduced in almost inappreciable quantities into the system1 seem to increase in quantity2 and which when communicated in the same inappreciable quantity from the individual poisoned to one who is healthy1 excite the same series of febrile phenomena and local inflammation1 and the same increase in the quantity of the poisonous agent4--,med4 ,chir4 ,review4 ,this unseen influence working in the body1 presents very striking analogies to the modes of operation of different poisons4--,dr4 ,ormerod on ,continued ,fever4 #g ,i am aware that the vesicle does not here strictly bear the relation to the original germ1 supposing one active particle alone to be sufficient for its production1 that the egg does to the bird1 for in the former case multitudes of active particles may have been generated from one4 ,i have1 therefore1 merely used this expression to signify an aggregation of vital forces1 such as may be imagined to exist in the bird4 #h ,at an early period the form of the ovisacs is usually elliptical1 and their size extremely minute1--their long diameter measuring in the ox no more than #a_/efb of an inch1 so that a cubic inch would contain nearly two hundred millions of them4 ,they are at this time quite distinct from the stroma of the ovarium2 this forms a cavity in which they are loosely embedded4 #i ,coleridge1 p4 #ef4 #aj ,all vegetables1 says ,sharon ,turner1 from that pettiness which escapes our natural sight1 to that magnitude which we feel to be gigantic1 have these properties in common with all animals--organization2 an interior power of progressive growth1 a principle of life1 with many phenomena that resemble irritability1 excitability1 and susceptibility1 and a self-reproductive and multiplying faculty4--,sharon ,turner's ,sacred ,history4 #aa ,plants highly sensitive to light are those of the leguminous1 or ,pea kind4 ,they always close up in the evening and clasp their two upper surfaces together1 presenting only their backs to the air4 ,plants of pinnated leaves1 as the ,tansy1 are more sensible than these to the effects of light4 ,they fold up when light is too strong1 as in ,robinia2 it produces the same effect as want of light4 ,its leaves close up1 apparently1 because they are receiving too much4 ,so they do if a hot iron be brought near them4 ,they contract as if to avoid the heat4 ,sensitive plants1 and those of the ,oxalis ,lent4 are so sensitive that the least motion1 even a breath of air1 will make them close4--,sir ,j4 ,smith4 ,the vitality of plants seems to depend upon the existence of an irritability1 which although far inferior to that of animals1 is nevertheless of an analogous character4--,lindley's ,introduction to ,botany4 #ab ,provincial ,medical and ,surgical ,journal4 ,july #ajth1 #ahej4 ,no4 xiv4 p4 #cfg4 ,practical ,observations on the ,vaccination ,question4 ,by ,e4 ,oke ,spooner1 ,m4 ,r4 ,c4 ,s41 ,blandford4 ,if we examine the ,cow ,pox and the ,small ,pox microscopically1 as ,i have done very carefully in every stage1 we find that the essential character consists of a number of minute cells1 not exceeding the #aj1jjjth part of an inch in diameter1 being about one-fourth smaller than the globules of the blood1 containing within their circumference many still more minute nuclei1 and presenting beyond their circumference bud-like cells of the same size and character as those contained within the circle4 ,they exactly resemble in everything except the size1 the globules of the yeast plant1 the ,torula ,cerevesiae4 ,now if we examine more circumstantially the analogies of what ,i would call the ,torula ,variolae with the ,torula ,cerevesiae1 we observe the following corresponding facts4 ,what do we accomplish by inoculation as it is called8 ,simply this4 ,we take on the top of a lancet1 or an ivory point1 a few of these minute cells or germs1 and we put them in their appropriate nidus1 the subcuticular tissue1 where1 after a few days if they find their appropriate nutrient elements1 they grow and multiply4 ,simon1 ,chemistry of ,man1 vol4 i4 p4 #abg4 ,macgregor ascertained that the air expired by persons ill of confluent ,small ,pox1 contained as much as eight per cent of carbonic acid1 and in proportion as health was restored the percentage was diminished to its natural standard4 ,carbonic acid is also produced during the process of fermentation and germination4 #ac ,see ,history of the ,jews1 p4 #ga4 #ad ,it is said by ,whewell1 that the murrain is supposed to have fallen only on the animals which were in the open pasture4--,history of the ,jews4 ,j4 ,s4 ,michael ,leger1 published at ,vienna1 in #agge1 a treatise concerning the mildew as the principal cause of the epidemic disease among cattle4 ,the mildew is that which burns and dries the grass and leaves4 ,it is observed early in the morning1 particularly after thunder-storms4 ,its poisonous quality1 which does not last above twenty-four hours1 never operates but when it is swallowed immediately after its falling4--,mitchell on ,fevers4 #ae ,the prevalence of the south-east wind was observed to be particularly favourable to the increase of both cholera and influenza3 and ,i cannot but think that this had some connexion with the general tendency exhibited by the former to spread from east to west4 ,has the morbific property of this wind aught to do with the haziness of the air when it prevails--a haziness seen in the country remote from smoke1 and quite distinct from fog8 ,what is this haze8 ,in the west of ,england a hazy day in spring is called a blight4--,dr4 ,williams' ,principles of ,medicine4 #af ,we are to understand also that some peculiar operation took place of a nature difficult to comprehend1 which seems also to typify reproduction1 for the handfuls of ashes which ,moses threw into the air became a dust in all the land of ,egypt1 thus signifying an enormous reproduction of atomic matter4 #ag ,the ,chinese affect to trace the origin of ,small ,pox back to a period of at least #cjjj years1 or #bj years beyond the era of the ,trojan war1 #abab1 ,a4 ,c4 ,the ,chinese pretend to discriminate no less than #dj different species of ,small ,pox4 ,they also pretend to discover whether a person has died by violence or from natural causes1 not only after the body has been some time interred and decomposition of the softer parts has commenced1 but even after the total disappearance of the soft parts1 and when the dry skeleton alone is left4--,for the process1 see ,hamilton's ,history of ,medicine1 vol4 i4 p4 #ca4 ,to give some notion of the state of ,medical ,science among the ,chinese1 ,i may quote the following3 ,the theory of the circulation of the blood1 ,du ,halde affirms1 was known by the ,chinese about #djj years after the deluge2 be this assertion veracious or not1 no correct knowledge up to the present day1 do the nation possess of the circulating system of the human frame4--,china and the ,chinese1 ,henry ,charles ,sirr1 ,m4 ,a4 ,according to their anatomy1 the trachea extends from the larynx through the lungs to the heart1 whilst the oesophagus goes over them to the stomach4 #ah ,and ,aaron took as ,moses commanded1 and ran into the midst of the congregation3 and behold the plague was begun among the people2 and he put on incense and made an atonement for the people4 ,and he stood between the dead and the living1 and the plague was stayed4--,numbers4 ,the practice of burning scented herbs has been observed in all times during an invasion of the plague1 as a means of protection4 ,also wearing perfumes and aromatic preparations has been recommended4 ,whether they have any counteracting influence1 it is impossible to say4 ,virgil in the third ,georgic speaks of a murrain among cattle4 ,he says1 if any wore a vestment made of wool from an infected sheep1 fiery blains and filthy sweat overspread his body1 and ere long a pestilential fire preyed upon his infected limbs4 ,in his directions for preserving the health of flocks he says-- ,disce et odoratam stabulis accendere cedrum4 ,the motive for burning the fragrant cedar is not mentioned2 we cannot doubt but it was a good one1 and having some great practical utility1 from the following line-- ,galbaneoque agitare graves nidore chelydros4 #ai ,the earliest mention of this complaint upon which reliance can be placed1 is an ancient ,arabic ,,ms4 preserved in the public library at ,leyden4 ,this year1 in fine1 the ,small ,pox and ,measles made their first appearance in ,arabia4 ,the year alluded to being that of the birth of ,mahomet1 or the year #egb of the ,christian aera4--,hamilton's ,history of ,medicine1 vol4 i4 p4 #bae4 #bj ,dr4 ,w4 ,a4 ,greenhill's translation4 #ba ,the ,black ,assize at ,oxford1 #aegb1 is an instance in which a pestilential vapour suddenly appeared in the court1 whereby the judge1 several noblemen1 and more than #cjj others1 died within three days4 ,of an unaccountable vapour suddenly coming1 ,i have this relation from ,richard ,humphrey1 my neighbour1 and a man of veracity1 that on ,wednesday1 ,april #bg1 #agbg1 as he and one ,walter1 were travelling a-foot from ,canterbury2 when they came to ,rainham1 they were assaulted with such a strong loathsome stink1 as he thought was like the stench from a corrupted human corpse4 ,they were so offended at it1 as thinking it was from carrion in that town1 that they would not stay there to rest and refresh themselves1 but travelled on for about two hours1 mostly in the stench1 but sometimes out of it1 till they came to the hill that leads down to ,chatham3 and there they went clear out of it and smelt it no more4--,dr4 ,fuller4 ,it appears that these persons did not fall sick of any disease1 but the fact of itself is remarkable enough4 #bb ,hamilton's ,history of ,medicine4 #bc ,it has been said1 that an induction once carefully drawn1 is as perfect from a single instance as it is from ten thousand1 and that it is only an uncultivated mind which requires a load and accumulation of knowledge to assist his thoughts4--,sewell on the ,cultivation of the ,intellect4 #bd ,see ,dr4 ,alison's ,pamphlet on the ,fever in ,edinburgh4 #be ,earthquakes have in all times been considered to have some connexion with pestilences4 ,a most grievous pestilence broke out in ,seleucia1 which from thence to ,parthia1 ,greece1 and ,italy1 spread itself through a great part of the world1 from the opening of an ancient vault in the temple of ,apollo1 and that it raged with so much fury as to sweep away a third part of the inhabitants of those countries it visited4--,dr4 ,quincy1 on the ,causes of ,pestilential ,disease4 ,upon an earthquake the earth sends forth noisome vapours which infect the air2 so it was observed to be at ,hull in ,yorkshire1 by the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,banks1 of that place1 after a small earthquake there in #agjc1 it was a most sickly time for a considerable while afterwards1 and the greatest mortality that had been known for fifteen years4--,anonymous1 #agfi4 #bf ,see ,sharon ,turner's ,sacred ,history1 text and notes1 vol4 i4 p4 #afa #afb4 #bg ,each seed includes a plant2 that plant1 again1 ,has other seeds1 which other plants contain1 ,those other plants have all their seeds2 and those ,more plants1 again1 successively enclose4 ,thus ev'ry single berry that we find1 ,has really in itself whole forests of its kind4 ,empire and wealth one acorn may dispense1 ,by fleets to sail a thousand ages hence2 ,each myrtle-seed includes a thousand groves1 ,where future bards may warble forth their loves4 #bh ,on ,june #eth1 #ahdi1 a man and his son1 a lad aged #ad years1 left ,noss to fish1 and when five miles out at sea1 no vessel being in sight1 they both simultaneously became aware of a hot offensive stream of air passing over them4 ,it was so decided1 that the crab pots were examined to discover if it were from them1 but it did not1 and five minutes after the father's attention was directed to the boy1 who was vomiting and purging4--,dr4 ,roe on the ,cholera at ,plymouth1 ,med4 ,gaz4 ,aug4 #bdth1 #ahej4 #bi ,linnaeus remarked that ,erigeron ,canadense was introduced into gardens near ,paris from ,north ,america4 ,the seeds had been carried by the wind1 and this plant was in the course of a century spread over all ,france1 ,italy1 ,sicily and ,belgium4 #cj ,hecker4 #ca ,this is found most generally to be the case where rivers flow through uncultivated tracts of country4 ,the ,californian emigrants suffer much from diarrhoea and dysentery1 if they drink of the river and certain well waters of that gold district4 #cb ,purification from leprosy4 ,as this fearful disease was contagious and hereditary to the third and fourth generation1 the separation of lepers from the camp and congregation1 and the destruction of infected houses and clothes1 was of the utmost importance to the preservation of public health4 ,leprosy was of three kinds3 #ast1 ,leprosy in man4 #bnd1 ,leprosy in houses4 #crd1 ,leprosy in clothes4 ,contagious or malignant leprosy was of two kinds1 viz4 #ast4 ,the white leprosy1 or bright berat1 which was the most serious and obstinate form which leprosy assumes4 ,it exhibited itself as a bright white and spreading scale1 on an elevated base2 turning the hair white in patches1 which were continually spreading4 #bnd4 ,the black leprosy1 or dusky berat1 which was less serious than the foregoing4 ,it did not change the colour of the hair1 nor was there any depression in the dusky spot2 but the patches were perpetually spreading1 as in the white leprosy4--,analysis and ,summary of ,old ,testament ,history4 ,oxford4 #cc ,the ,mexican ,aloe blows when nine years old1 and then dies4 ,at least this is its usual course in the island of ,cuba4 #cd ,ground that has not been disturbed for some hundred years1 on being ploughed1 has frequently surprised the cultivator by the appearance of plants which he never sowed1 and often which were then unknown to the country4 ,the principle has been ascertained to be capable of existing in this latent state for above #bjjj years1 unextinguished1 and springing again into active vegetation1 as soon as planted in a congenial soil4 ,in boring for water near ,kingston on ,thames1 some earth was brought up from a depth of #cfj feet1 and though carefully covered with a hand-glass to prevent the possibility of other seeds being deposited on it1 was yet in a short time covered with vegetation4 ,turner says1 from the depth1 these seeds must have been of the diluvian age4--,jesse's ,gleanings4 #ce ,hamilton's ,history of ,medicine1 vol4 ii4 p4 #bgf1 note4 #cf ,what ,i wish you to remark is this1 that while almost all men are prone to take the disorder1 large portions of the world have remained for centuries entirely exempt from it1 until at length it was imported1 and that then it infallibly diffused and established itself in those parts4--,dr4 ,watson on the ,principles and ,practice of ,physic4 ,dr4 ,r4 ,williams says1 ,the seeds of intermittent fever lay dormant for months1 it was not at all uncommon for cases of intermittent fever to be brought into the hospital eight or ten months after the patients had subjected themselves to the influence of paludal or marsh effluvia4 #cg ,i have observed in the hot-houses1 that many of the exotic plants1 which are in company with the diseased vines1 have been attacked1 while others again have been entirely free4 #ch ,by causes of the greatest variety plants may become extinct for a time4 ,it is not very easy to trace them1 but one fact may be mentioned in proof of the statement4 ,dr4 ,prichard states that vast forests are destroyed either for the purpose of tillage or accidentally by conflagrations4 ,the same trees do not reappear in the same spots1 but they have successors1 which seem regularly to take their place4 ,thus the pine forests of ,north ,america when burnt1 afford room to forests of oak trees4 #ci ,hecker says of ,chalin de ,vinario1 that he asserted boldly and with truth1 that all epidemic diseases might become contagious1 and all fevers epidemic1--which attentive observers of all subsequent ages have confirmed4 ,p4 #fj4 #dj ,in #aeci1 the thirty-first year of ,henry the ,eighth1 was great death of burning agues and flixes2 and such a drought that welles and small rivers were dryed up1 and many cattle dyed for lacke of water2 the salt water flowed above ,london ,bridge4--,stowe4 ,in #aeef1 the fourth of ,mary1 and the third of ,philip1 about this time began the burning fevers1 quarterne agues1 and other strange diseases1 whereof died many4--,stowe4 ,the next winter1 #aeeg1 the quarterne agues continued in like manner1 or more vehemently than they had done the last yere4--,stowe4 #da ,every writer on the climate of ,egypt has remarked1 that the ,endemic ,fever which is so frequent1 originating on the coast1 particularly about ,alexandria1 becomes occasionally so virulent1 that it cannot be distinguished from the true ,plague4--,robertson on the ,atmosphere1 vol4 #b4 p4 #chd4 ,endemial ,fevers of every situation become occasionally so aggravated1 that they cannot be distinguished from such as originate from contagion2 and in every unusual virulence of this ,endemic ,fever1 it is probable that it may be propagated afterwards by contagion as every epidemic4 ,ibid4 p4 #chh4 #db ,dr4 ,ure4 #dc ,the metamorphosis of starch into sugar depends simply1 as is proved by analysis1 on the addition of the elements of water4 ,all the carbon of the starch is found in the sugar2 none of its elements have been separated1 and except the elements of water1 no foreign element has been added to it in this transformation4--,liebig1 ,organic ,chemistry1 p4 #ga4 #dd ,as regards starch there appears to be some peculiar faculty regarding it4 ,it is converted into sugar during the ripening of fruit1 and it is just possible that being as it is of a cellular nature1 the property of vitality may attach to it until it has1 by being converted into sugar1 fulfilled its destination4 #de ,though ,i do not consider that the fermentation process is a fac-simile of diseased action1 yet ,i think its phenomena generally afford an apt illustration of the changes which may be effected by living germs4 ,many able chemists still maintain the entire dependence of fermentation upon the ,torula3 ,m4 ,blondeau propounds the view that every kind of fermentation is caused by the development of fungi4 ,the varieties of opinions found in the literature of this subject1 forms a curious specimen of scientific enquiry1 and is sufficient alone to convince us of its vast importance and extensive relations4 #df ,by ,dr4 ,mantell4 #dg ,mitchell on ,fevers4 #dh ,we wonder1 and ask ourselves3 ,what does ,,small mean in ,nature8--,schleiden's ,lectures on ,botany4 #di ,speaking of the bunt in wheat3 ,it appears certainly to be contagious1 from numerous experiments1 which shew that the contagious principle lasts a long time4 ,i have tried it myself2 some1 however1 doubt it1 but it cannot be denied1 that seed sown1 infected with bunt1 produces plants similarly affected2 every one who has had the slightest experience must be convinced of it4--,essay on the ,diseases of ,plants4 ,count ,r'e4 #ej ,we have already spoken of the effects of these poisons1 and have stated that the amount of each poison capable of destroying the body is pretty accurately known4 #ea ,the italics are my own4 #eb ,gmelin says3 ,but the mode of action in these transformations1 sometimes admits of other explanations2 and when this is not the case1 our conception of it is by no means sufficiently clear to justify the positive assumption of this1 so called contact-action or catalytic force1 which1 after all1 merely states the fact without explaining it--,gmelin's ,hand-book of ,chemistry1 vol4 i4 p4 #aae4 #ec ,the history and symptoms of some epidemic diseases1 such as cholera and influenza1 are not inconsistent with the hypothesis that they are caused by the sudden development of animalcules from ova in the blood4 ,but there is a total want of direct observation in support of this hypothesis4--,dr4 ,williams' ,principles of ,medicine4 #ed ,since writing the above1 ,i have referred for information on this subject1 and find1 that the ,anguillula aceti exhibits sexual distinctions2 and that the ovaries of the females are situated on each side of the alimentary canal4--,cyclo4 ,anat4 and ,phys4 ,art4 ,entozoa4 #ee ,speaking of the examination of the infusory animalcules--,mr4 ,kirby says3 ,but to us the wondrous spectacle is seen1 and known only in part2 for those that still escape all our methods of assisting sight1 and remain members of the invisible world1 may probably far exceed those that we know4--,bridgewater ,treatise1 vol4 i4 p4 #aeh4 #ef ,mr4 ,owen has added another class1 as the first1 called ,protelmintha1 which comprises the cercariadae and vibrionidae4 #eg ,it is probable that in the waters of our globe an infinity of animal and vegetable molecules are suspended1 that are too minute to form the food of even the lowest and minute animals of the visible creation3 and therefore an infinite host of invisibles was necessary to remove them as nuisances4--,bridgewater ,treatise1 vol4 i4 p4 #aei4 ,when ,creative ,wisdom covered the earth with plants1 and peopled it with animals1 ,he laid the foundations of the vegetable and animal kingdoms with such as were most easily convertible into nutriment for the tribes immediately above them4 ,the first plants1 and the first animals1 are scarcely more than animated molecules199 and appear analogues of each other2 and those above them in each kingdom represent jointed fibrils4--,bridgewater ,treatise1 vol4 i4 p4 #afb4 99 ,globulina and ,monus4 ,oscillatoria and ,vibrio4 #eh ,a treatise which should present a systematic arrangement of all the diseases of plants1 giving in detail the exact history of each1 and adding the means of preventing and curing them1 would certainly be of the greatest utility to agriculture4 --,essay on the ,diseases of ,plants1 ,count ,philippo ,r'e1 translated into ,gardener's ,chron4 #ei ,plenck published a treatise on ,vegetable ,pathology1 in which he divided diseases into eight classes3 #a4 ,external injuries2 #b4 ,flux of juices2 #c4 ,debility2 #d4 ,cachexies2 #e4 ,putrefactions2 #f4 ,excrescences2 #g4 ,monstrosities2 and #h4 ,sterility4 ,and he concludes with an enumeration of the animals which injure plants4--,essay on the ,diseases of ,plants1 ,gardener's ,chronicle4 #fj ,the ,bunt4 ,this disease appears at the moment of the germination of the plant4 ,the affected individuals are of a dark green1 and the stem is discoloured4 ,as the ears are issuing from the sheaths1 their stalks are of a dark green1 but very slender4 ,when the ear has fully grown out1 its dull1 dirty colour1 causes it to be immediately distinguished from the healthy ones1 and it soon turns white4--,essay on the ,diseases of ,plants4 #fa ,vidi understood4 #fb ,at the close of the year #affe1 says ,dr4 ,hodges1 even women1 before deemed barren1 were said to prove prolific4 ,after the cessation of the ,black ,plague1 a greater fecundity in women was every where remarkable--a grand phenomenon1 which from its occurrence after every destructive pestilence proves to conviction1 if any occurrence can do so1 the prevalence of a higher power in the direction of general organic life4 ,marriages were almost without exception prolific2 and double and treble births were more frequent than at other times4--,hecker1 p4 #ca4 #fc ,it is stated that on the decline of the ,plague1 #affe1 those who returned early to ,london1 or new comers1 were certain to be attacked4 ,in proof of this the #ast week of ,november1 the deaths increased #djj1 and physicians reported that above #cjjj fell sick that week1 mostly new comers4 ,see also ,dr4 ,copland's ,dict4 ,pract4 ,med4 ,epidemic and ,endemic ,diseases4 ,the hardy mountaineer is a surer victim of paludal fever1 whether he visits the low countries of the tropics1 or the marshes of a more temperate climate1 than the feebler native of those countries4--,dr4 ,r4 ,williams on ,morbid ,poisons4 #fd ,substances presented to the gastro-intestinal surfaces1 are mixed up with various secretions1 mucus1 saliva1 gastric juice1 bile1 pancreatic liquor1 and special exudations from the peculiar glands of each successive section1 while aerial poisons1 unmixed and unfettered1 are applied at once to a surface on which1 behind scarcely a shadow of a film1 circulates the blood prepared1 by the habitual action of the respiratory function1 to absorb almost every vapour1 and every odour1 which may not be too irritating to pass the gates of the glottis4--,mitchell on ,fevers4 #fe ,hecker on the ,black ,death4 #ff ,the stomach in some cases is no doubt the medium by which some diseases are contracted4 ,it is well known1 that in many places the water induces diarrhoea1 the permanent residents1 however1 may not suffer1 but all new comers are more or less affected by drinking it4 #fg ,similar effects have been experienced from the use of mouldy provisions4--,dr4 ,lindley's ,vegetable ,kingdom4 #fh ,untold numbers die of the diseases produced by scanty and unwholesome food4--,southey4 ,a large1 nay1 a most extensive adulteration of flour with plaster of ,paris was detected not many years since4 ,the flour was supplied by a contractor for the manufacture of biscuits for the navy4 #fi ,see ,southey's ,doctor1 vol4 ii4 interchapter vi4 p4 #aae1 for an illustration of this subject4 #gj ,both these patients died4 #ga ,a good part of the clove trees which grew so plentifully in the island of ,ternate1 being felled at the solicitation of the ,dutch1 in order to heighten the price of that fruit1 such a change ensued in the air1 as shewed the salutary effect of the effluvia of clove trees and their blossoms2 the whole island1 soon after they were cut down1 becoming exceeding sickly4 #gb ,the observation is originally taken from the ,city ,remembrancer1 #acc4 #gc ,see ,hamilton's ,history of ,medicine1 vol4 i4 p4 #d4 #gd ,feuchtersleben's ,medical ,psychology1 p4 #agf1 #agg4 #ge ,ibid4 p4 #cba4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,changes ,,made ,,against ,,printed ,,original4 ,page #acf4 the idea of ,protophyta1 or first plants3 ',prolophyta' in original4 ,page #adj4 an extensive bearing of each individual part3 'indivdual' in original4