The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1881-12-06
DIPHTHERIA.
Its Source Located in Dimfnutive;
Plant which is said to Exist in All
| Human Beings.

Human Beings.
At a recent meeting of the Philadel-
phia Academy of Natural Sciences some
light was thrown on the origin of diph-
iberia in lecture by Professor Horatio
c Wood, who gave the result of his
researches In connection with DR.. Hem
ry F. Formal, involving the important
discovery that this fatal and insidious
disease is pfopagated by q microscopic
plant, or fungi, existing in all human
beings, especially in the mouth and
throat, but lacking the power Of repro
duction until given increased vitality by
those disordered conditions of the mu-
cous membrane which attend sore throat
when caused by cold. The investiga.
tions were made by the assistance of the
national board of health, and extended,
not only to the phenomena attending
the ordinary endemic diphtherla exist
ling in Philadelphia, but to the more vio-
lent form occurring from time to time
in different places. DR.. Formad visited
an infected town on Lake Michigan,
where one.third of all the children in
marshy district died of the epidemic,
and brought back with him specimens
lof diphtheretic virus, several of the
false membranes which are invariably
formed in the throats of afflicted per-
sons. and portions of their viscera. In
all blood, said the professor, there are
two kinds Of corpuscles, the red or COL
or-giving and the white. By careful
study aud experiments, both in human
beings and the lower animals, it was,
found that the infnitesimal plant fas-
tens 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 90 Off
individually to continue the destructive
work on other corpuscles. Thus in.
creased they poison the blood, choke
the vessels and are found in myriad
numbers in the spleen and bone marrow,
where the blood is manufactured. Pro.
fessor Woods Investigations show that
the false membrane, supposed to inva.
riably indicate the presence Of diphthe-
| ria, may be caused by ammonia, Span
ish fly or any other irritating influence
in the throat, so that its presence is not
infallibie as indicating the existence of
this disease. But in any case the false
membrane is built up by this parasite
cal plaat, which grows aud multiplies
upon its infamed surroundings. what
ever may be its cause. 1t is, when the
plants grow strong enough to extend to
the blood, either poisoning it themselves
or carrying the poison with them, that
diphtheria sets in. This little plant is
exactly the same as found upon a,coat-
ed tongue. When Professor Wood put
lplants such as found upon a healthy
tongue they failed to grow. On the
lcontrary, plants from the throat or
blood of person affected with diphthe.
ria multiplied rapidly. The practical
result of the Investigation pointed out
was the possibility that diphtheria, if
existing theories held good, may be pre-
vented by artificial vaccination. In the
case of splenic fever caught from ami
mails, which has been proved to origin
ate 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 poisonous character,
and when introduced into the system
makes the animal sick, but is no longer
fatal. The deduction is that this diph-
theretic nlant scientificall0 known oa
"microcosi," may in time be cultivated
so that when inoculated with it the sys-
TEN will be no longer subject to the
disease in its fatal form Concluding
the lecture Professor Wood was ap.
plauded when be said that these discov-
cries could never have been made but
for the art of vi7isection, against which
there is foolish prejudice in the minds
of many.