The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-12-16
Rival Modern Theories of Disease.

In modern scicntihc discussion. the germ |
theory Of disease is the only one we hear |
much about The dlsputants are for it or
against it, but very little has been said OF
late years as to any other reasonable hy-
pothcsis to account for the origin or spread
OF the communicable diseases. In England,
however, early in the autumn, attention was
drawn To whit Is, perhaps, the most promi-
ncnt rival theory, by an address delivered
before the Sanitary Congress- at Leaning
ton, by Dir. BENJAMIN W. RICHARDSON, +. X.
s., one OF the foremost medical men of Great
Britain. A full report of this address has
lately reached us, and its contents are emf
ncntly worthy Of consideration.
According to the germ theory, the com
munieablc diseases. such AZ smallpox, chol-
era, yellow fever, measles, scarlet fever, ty-
| phus and typhoid fcvors, and diphthcra, are
developed from PARTICLES Of organic matter,
| which, upon introduction into the body.
| grow az grain grows when sowcd in fertile
field. This analogy to the growth Of grain
| is insisted on by all cxponcnts OF the germ
theory The seed having been planted, rs 1t
were, in the form OF a particle Of contagium
| from without, II multiplics by growth within
| the system, and thus occasions the phcnom-
cna belonging to that particular disease OF
which II is the germ. The vitality of these
infectious particles is wonderful Sir
THOMAS WATSON, in the May number Of
| the Nineteenth Century, mentions tho case OF
several physicians who helped unfold
mummy at London in the year 1868; they
died shortly aiterward of a malignant fever,
which was asrribed Ia infection from the
body Of the ancient Egyptian.
We believe there Is no attempt on the part
Of the advocates Of the germ hypothesis to
explain the ultimate origin Of the injecting
particles. They attribut" each case Of com
municable disease to the introduction OF it,
own peculiar cuntagium, consisting OF germs
from the body Of another person suffering
from the same disease Indeed. II is con
tended by distinguished physicians that
none of these diseases now originate spon-
taucously- is to say, that no person
ever has typhoid fever. for example, unless
he has caught 1t from somebody else, either
directly or indirectly we could no morr
expect this known species of disease or poi
son" says Sir JAMES Y. SIMPSON, writing OF
smallpox, " TO originate at the present day
Il, moro, under any combination Of eircum-
stances, than We could expect "A known spc-
cies Of animal or plant as dog or haw-
thorn, Ia spring ny dc moro, without antecc-
dent parentagc.'
In opposition To these views. DR. RICHARD
son presents an hypothesis which he calls
the glandular theory. II processes To eX-
plain the comlnunicability Of the class OF
diseases under consideration far more salts
factoily than the germ theory, and, gong
| still further 1t shows how these disease
( may sometimes arise without any contagion
49, rr --i..-- .@-- 80.
| various sccretions of the animal body Itself
@ are the sources of these several Diseases
e As the processes II secretion go on through
the glands, these diseases are, therefore
, Of glandular origin. Each disease II the
group Is produced by the action Of q sprcii,
! | organic poison. There in different poison
for each disease, hut type Of them all it
e found IN the poison Of yenomous snake.
= Now, according to this theory, the poison
q causing any disease Of this class is simply
. modified form of one or another OF the bodily
!, secrctions. In most cases the modification
Il I a secretion from Its normal and healthy
# state into a dseasc-producing poison l.
(. brought about by contact with simila
= poison from the system Of a person pre-
= viously affected with its characteristic ,hs
,. ease But instead Of this foreign matte
:, which produces poisonous action being
Z, living particle, as is assumed 10y the germ
n theory, the Rlandular hypothesis assumes /
d to be dead matter, and sees in that very fac
4, its capacity for injury to the healthy seer,
II lions with which il comes in contact.
As We have minated, however, the gland
ular theory asserts that a secretion may b
Ir changed into the specific poison which give
rise to particular disease, even whcr
y there is no intervention Of any poisonou
p, agent from without. IN many cpidcmics,
a saws DR.. RICHARDSON, cit is common to So
H. a number o. examples 81 the prevailing dit
- ease, the origin Of which is traceablc only I
" fear on anxiety We call these nervous c'.,e
ii and we try to define them as such, and a
IN distinct from cases due 10 contagion Of
ne direct kind. But the symptoms are ii
al same rs those which follow actual col
nt tagion, and in cpidcmics Of cholera the
take even II fatal character. My theur
II fully explains the reason Of this. II ind
ho Gates that an extreme nervous imprcsslt
Of acts on the glanduar nervous supply, par
al lyzes the gandular function, and thercupo
if produces the same phenomena as are pr
nj, duccd in other Instances by the action Of
-. specific poison
~ | l ne Ten years winch nave flhIN'h SIN
he this theory was first suggested have add
he largely t. the evidence in It's favor A clio
90 correspondence between the number of s
In crctions and the number Of diseases whit
he are distinctly communicable has been not
rot by Dr. RICHARDSON. From the saliVary
ur erection comes the poison of hydrophUhi
,iy from the mucous glands Of the throat th
.dn Of diphthcria from the mucous glands
ii,- the estlnal surface that If typhoid irNt
tv from the mucous secrctuns Of the mas
rr- surface that Of slandots and the list mig
a he extended much further. Again, eve
ny. one OF the contagious diseases begins WI
of purely nervous symptoms, and these Il
la found to he clue TO the Immediate, dire
,nt and usually severe action Of the polsono
viii PARTICLES upon the nervous fibre, fact |
ote easily roconcilablo with the germ theo
sill which does not regard nervous dcran;
der mont as Of primary Importance. The id
associated with the same theory that
tn trofntiyc change Is characteristic of