The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-03-05
The Germ Theory of Disease.

There has been spreading for some time
an idea or hypothesis among the more
philosophic medical men, and among the
thoughtful "Iaity," that many species of
disease have their sources il. and are scat
tere by, seeds or germs. The thought it.
self is an impressive and natural one, that
there may be " cholera seed " or - scarlet
fever germ or typhoid sporule float
ing through the air, just as there are 1loat-
ing seeds of thistles or dandelions, or
germs of tulip-trees or lines, or scores of
the nameless plants which sow themselves
wherever there is the slightest bit of soil or
moisture favoring. 1t is evident that both
air and soil are full of these unseen seeds,
for we have only TO burn one species of
vegetation when Immediately an entirely
different species springs up, showing that
for uncounted years the germs of the latter
have been lying dormant in the earth wait
ing for the favorable moment to germinate
and grow. So with the seeds of different
species of disease. No doubt in this city
there is an invisible cloud of scarlet fever
germs, d" typhoid Seeds" and cholera or
- diphtheria spores" always drifting over
from the densely-crowded poor quarters
into those of the wealthy, filling the
houses and garments, and lying perdu I'M
vi llit lsNOi aunt III lllt
of some child or delicate person gives
them chance to spring up into vigorous
growth.
1t is deeply interesting to the laity to
know how far these theories are substan-
ed.by scientific experiment of careful
experience. DIR. John G. Dalton, in a re-
cent lecture before the New York Acade-
my Of Medicine, on . The Origin and Pro-
pagatiOn of Disease" has attempted to
throw the light of the most recent scientific
discoveries on this most interesting sub
ject. He points out that the tendency of
the medical mind TO believe in the germ
origin of disease was first given by the dis
c0veries relating to parasitic diseases.
Thus, for long period, no one had any
idea that scabies or itch was anything
more than an eruptive disease, but
when the insect itself was discov-
cred Tor rediscovered), its mode of
laying eggs and the times required for
Matching and scattering its young, it is
plain that an important step was made in
the means of prevention and cure, and one
which would suggest similar discovery in
other branches of medical science. In the
same way the discoveries of the physical
connection between two different internal
par sites, the tape-worm of man and the
Pau VI pun put ply SiCIdilS Ut
once on a scientific method of treatment
for the human disease.
For long time, without doubt, phys
icians and patients puzzled themselves over
diseases which they could not understand,
which they sometimes called rheumatic
and sometimes typhoid cases. Now such
cases, it is perfectly understood, are due to
a parasitic insect of microscopic size, which
has the power of ditfuSing itself rapidly
through the system, and producing all the
symptoms of a fever; we allude to the
cases of infection through trlchina SpiraLiS,
caused by eating trichinous pork. 1t
would even seem that there are trichinous
epidemics, or such fayOring conditions in
man and beast that those dreadful parasites
can spread with immense rapidity and fatal
effects. All these cases, however, are of
animal parasites with sexual production,
and capable of being detected by the mi
crOscope or scientific processes. The great
field lies beyond, comparatively unworked.
of vegetable organism as the cause OF
diseases.
Certain skin diseases are now known, by
careful experiment, to be caused by para
site. vegetation. The question, of course,
might arise, say in regard to "ring-
worm" whether the microscopic fungus
caused the disease, or the disease the fun
gus. A double test, however, could easily
be made, if the fungus spores can be trans
planted to the skin of another individual,
and there geTminate and produce the
disease; or if they be treated by the appli-
cation of, say iodine or sulphurOus acid,
thus destroying the vitality of the fungus,
and the disorder be put an end to, or mere
secondary symptoms be left behind. The
inference would then be logical that
the vegetable organism is the cause of the
disease.
The immense and destructive influence
of microscopic fungi in causing disease
among plants is now recognized in the
famous ''potato rOt,'' and the widespread
malady of the grapevine from oidiatm.
May not fungi be a source of what are
called the ''ZymOtic'' or fermenting hui
man diseases such as scarlet fever, diph-
liberia, typhoid, cholera, and the like?
Thus far science can only say that there is
a common analogy between the effects of
yeast fungi in fermentation and the phe-
nOmena of those diseases. The fixed time
which intervenes between exposure to a
iontagiOn and its appearance, the regular
course of symptoms. their definite termi-
nation within a prescribed period, and the
evident reproduction of the contagious
scientific discovery. They point toward
germs of disease" but do not prove
them. The presence, too, of the smallest
and simplest of living organisms, called
bucteTia, in all forms of putrefactiOn, so
that they are now considered the living
cause of it, and their development in the
interior of living organisms causing GER
tain diseases, of sheep, for instance, give
an indication ofwbat yet may be discov-
cred as the cause of many hundred cOnta-
gious diseases, especially of such a disor-
der as smallpox.
Mr.. Dalton says nothing of the exist
ence of "cholera germ which was
thought to have been discovered few
years since, nor of the action of camphor-
bearing vegetation in checking the spread
of malaria, both of which make the germ
theory more probable. The inference
from all these facts and analogies pre-
sented by DIR. Dalton seems to be that
many diseases are probably spread or
caused by vegetable and animal germs.
And with this theory before them, ply
sicians will undoubtedly hit upon many
new modes of prevention and cure.-N, y.
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