Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-10-20
THE DIPHTHERIA PLANT.
Prof. Wood Explains How the Dis
ease 10 PrOpagaIed.
From the PhtladeEph.a Times. Oct. 12.

From the Philadelphia Times, Oct. 12.
Some light was thrown On the origin of
diphtheria last night in lecture before the
Academy of Natural Sciences by Prof. Ho-
ratio G. Wood, who gave the result of his
researches In connection with DR.. Henry +.
Formal, involving the important discovery
that this fatal and insidious disease is pro-
pagated by a microscopic plant or fungi,
existing In all human beings, especially in
the mouth and throat, but lacking the power
Of,reproduc ion until given increased vitali-
ty by those disordered conditions of the
mucous membrane which attend sore
throat when caused by cold. The inves-
legations were made at the instance of
the National Board of Health, and
efa attending the ordinary en-.
demic diphthtns existing In Phila-
delphis, but to the more violent form oc-
curing from time to time in different
places. DR.. FOrmad visited an infected
town on Lake Michigan where one-third of
all the children in a marshY district died of
the epidemic, and brought back with him
specimens of the diphtheric virus, several Of
the false membranes which are invaribly
formed In the throats of afflicted persone,
and portions of their viscera. In all blood,
said the Professor, there are two kinds of
corpuscles, the red or color giving and the
white. By careful study and experiment,
both in human beings and the lower ami
mails, 1t was found that this infnitesimal
plant fastens upon the white corpuscles and
multiplies its cells, altering their
ed, they burst, and the plants, set
loose in an irregular mass, separate
and go off individually to continue the
destructive work on other corpuscles. Thus
increased they poison the blood, choke the
vessels, and are found in myriad numbers
In the spleen and bone marrow, where the
blood is manufactured. Prof. Woods in
vestigations show that the false membrane,
supposed to invariably indicate the presence
OF diphtheris, may be caused by ammonia,
Spanish fly, or any other irritating infu-
ence in the throat, so that its presence is
not infallOle as indicating the existence
OF this disease. But in any case the false
membrane is built up by this parssitical
plant, which grows and multiplies upon
its inaamed surroundings, whatever may
be it's cause. 1t Is when the plants grow
strong enough to extend to the blood, either
poisoning 1t themselves or carrying The
poison with them, that diphtheTia sets
in. This little plant is exactly the same as
found upon a coated tongue. When Pro-
fessor Wood put plants such as are found
upon healthy tongue In sterilized mattGr
they failed to grow On the contrary, plants
from the throat or blood of person affected
practical result of the investigation pointed
out was the possibility that diphtheria, IL
existing theories hold good, may be pre-
vented by artificial vaccination. In the
case of splenic fever caught from ami
mails, which has been proved to origi-
nate in a somewhat similar plant, Pas
teur has found that the plant, when ex-
posed a sufficient time to the air, by the
action of oxygen, loses its poisonous char
scter, and when then introduced into the
system makes the animal sick, but is no
longer fatal. The deduction is that this
diphtheric plant, scientifically known as
"micrococi," may in time be cultivated, so
that when inoculated with it the system will
be no longer subject to the disease in its
fatal form. Concluding the lecture, Prof.
Wood was applauded, when he said that
these discoveries could never have been
made but for the aid of vivisection, against
which there is a foolish prejudice in the
minds of manV