The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1881-11-25
THE VEGETABLE ORIGIN OF
.DTPHTHRRTA.

In a recent lecture before the Aca-
denny Of Natural Science, in Philadel-
phia, Prof. II. C. Wood, of that city,
gave statement Of the results of GER
tain researches upon the nature Of diph-
liberia, undertaken by him and DR.. III.
F. Formal, at the instigation of the
National Board of Health. The inves-
LEGATIONS embraced not only ordinary
endemic diphtheria prevailing in Phila-
delphia, but also the more violent forms
Of the disease occurring from time to
time in different places.
In this pursuit DR.. Formal 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 invariably
formed In the Threats Of afflicted per-
sons and portions Of their viscera. In
all blood, said the professor, as reported
by the Philadelphia 1Isaes, there are
two kinds of corpuscles, the red or
color-giving and the white. By careful
study and experiments, both in human
beings and the lower animals, 1t was
found that this intinitesimal plant
fastens upon the white corpuscles and
multiplies its cells, altering their char
acter, until, with the interior destroyed,
they burst, and the plants, set loose in
an irregular mass, separate and 60 off
individually, to continue the destruc-
tive work on other corpuscles. Thus
increased, they poison the blood, choke
the vessels, and are found in myriad
numbers In the spleen and other organs
rich in blood. Prof. Woods investiga-
tions show that the false membrane,
supposed to invariably indicate the
presence Of diphtheria, may be caused
by Ammonia, Spanish fly, or any other
irritating influence in the throat, SO
that its presence Is not infallible as
indicating the existence Of this disease.
But in any case the false membrane
is built up by this parasitical plant,
which grows and multiplies upon its
ipfamed surroundings, whatever may
be its cause. It is when the plants
grow strong enough to extend to the
blood, either poisoning it or carrying
the poison with them, that diphtheria
sets in. This little plant is exactly the
same as found upon the coated tongue.
When Prof. Wood put plants such as
are found upon q healthy tongue in
sterilised matter they failed to grow.
On the contrary, plants from the throat
or blood Of q person affected with
diphtheria multiplied rapidly. The
practical result of the investigation
pointed out was the possibility that
diphtheria, If existing theories hold
good, may be prevented by artificial
vaccination.
In the case of splenic fever caught
from animals, which has been proved
to originate in a somewhat similar
plant, Pasteur has found that the plant,
when exposed q sufficient time to the
air, by the action of oxygen, loses its
virulent character, and when intro
duced into the system makes the ami
NAL sick, but is no longer fatal. The
deduction is thar this diphtheric plant,
scientifically known as micrococcus,
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 q foolish preiu.
dice in the minds Of many.