The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1870-11-03

the Medical Officer Of The Privy Council con-
tifns 4 eseay "Q3thl Intimate PATH ogy
Of Eoigion," IN Burden Sand an.
which one Of e karest, most col pre-
lnpsiy and wS1-re5 oned discussion. 81 a
great question that has come under my notice
for a long time. 1t contains evidence 10
show that the active element in vaccine
lymph is non-diffusible, and consists in minute ,
particles not excsedisg }-2QO94 r. anjacb
in diameter.. Two IL <hes h6sk Hestr,Ikti<e |
spiso0tiG disaaaas~ pax nd alaa1aE y
are shown to be dependent for their existence
and propagation upon extremely small living
PARTICLES, to which the name Of microzymes
is applied. An animal suffering from either |
Is a source of infection to others, for the |
same reason that q tub Of fefnsenting beer is |
capable of propagating its feEmsnaaiioa n
fresh wort. In both cases it is the sDlid
living particles which are efficient, the liquid |
In which they float and at the expense Of
which they live being altogether passive. 1t
is question of immense importance to de-
termine whether these microxymes are the
results of homogeneous or xenOgenesis; or, in
other words, whether they are capable of
arising only by the development Of pfe-exist-
ing germs, or Of being the results Of oondi-
tons operating upon the body in which they
are found. A parasite may be stamped out
by destroying its germs; but a product Of
disease can only be annihilated by removing
the conditions which give rise to it. ieif
PARASITES OF INSECTS. ,puoi lr
1t is weh-eaablished fact that certain
contagious epidemic diseases, both of plants
and animals, are caused by the growth Of
minute organisms. The smut Of wheat is a
well-known example. The common house
fly is frequently destroyed by the growth
within its body Of a fungus, the Empusa mus
coo, which, in flies, still apparently healthy,
is found to exist in the form of minute cor
pslscles which Ant in the blood. These
multiply and lengthen into flanlents at the
expense of the fiy's substance, and when they
have killed it they grow out Of its body and
give off spores, which, falling upon other
flies, terminate, penetrate the skin, and yield
the floating corpuscles when they have entered
the body. The silkworm has long been
known to be the subject Of a very fatal, con-
tagious, and infectious disease called the mus
caroline. This is entirely due to the develop
ment of a fungus in the body Of the larva.
But Of late years 4 still more serious disease
has broken out among them. In the year
1853 it broke out in the South OF France with
such violence that in 1856 the silk crop was
reduced to third of the amount which it
had reached in 1858. This means not only
that the great number of people engaged in
growing silk are some thirty millions
sterling poorer than they might have
been, but also that the looms Of
Lyons have lacked employment, and that for
wears enforced idleness and misery have
been the portion of a vast population which
| was formerly industrious and well to do. In
1858 the French government appointed COM
missioners TO inquire into the subject, among
whom was NJ. de Quatrefagcs. 1t is inter
| esting to observe that this distinguished
naturalist, in his elaborate study Of the
pebrine, arrived at the conviction that it is in
every respect comparable to the cholera
among mankind. But il differs from cholera
in being hereditary. and in being, under
some circumstances, contagious As well as in
| fectiOls. The Italian naturalist, Filippi,
| discovered in the blood Of the affected silk
worms a multitude of cylindrical corpuscles,
each about l-6OOth of an inch long. These
bodies have been named by Lebert panhis
| tOphytOn, because they swarm in every tissue
of the body, and even pass into the undevel-
| oped eggs of the female moth. NJ. Pasteur
has devised a means Of extirpating the dis
ease which has proved to be completely suc-
cessful wherever ii has been properly carried
| out. Analogous evidence is furnished by the
Investigations of Professor Lister into the
causes Of mortality after operations; and il
seems probable that the surgeon who saves
| most lives will Ike he who best works out the
practical consequences of the hypothesis OF
Redi.
UTILITY OF SCIENCE.
/ commenced by asking you to follow me
in survey that that has not taken lis into 4
very attractive regiOE. Our path has lain
chiefly in land flowing with mouldncss.
| Nevertheless YOU will have observed that
there soon appeared on the right hand and
on the left fields laden with n harvest of COL
den grain, Immediately convertible into
those things which the most sor,lidly prac-
teal of men will admit Ia have value
namely, money and life. The direct iess to
France caused by the pebTine in seventeen
years cannot he estimated at less than $50,
600, 900, and if we add TO this what Reds
idea, in Pasteur's hands, has done for the
| wine-grOwer and for the vinegar-maker, and
| try to capitalize its value, We shall lind that
it will go long way toward repair
| ing the money losses Of the calami-
tous war Of this autumn. And, as
to the equivalent of Redi's thought in life,
how can We ovcr-cstimatc the value OF
that knowledge of the nature of contagious
diseases, and, consequently, Of The means OF
| checking them, the dawn Of which has as
surcdly commenced. Looking back over
ten years, it is possible to select three (lS63,
1864, and 1861, in which the total number
| of deaths from scarlet fever alone amounted
to $4,000. That is the retun of killed, the
MANNED and disabled being LEFT out of sight
The facts which have placed before you,
must leave the least sansuine without Il doubt
that the nature and causes Of this sco,Irge
will one day he as well understood "a those
of pebrinc are now, and that the lonssuflerc,l
massacre Of our innocents viii come to IN
end. And thus mankind will have one more
admonition that 'the people perish for lacl,
Of knowledge and that the alienation of
the miseries and the promotion Of the well
fare of men must be sought by those who
will not lose their pains, in that diligcnt,
patient, loving study Of all the multihldin-
Gus aspects of nature, the results of which
constitute exact knowledge, or Science.
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