Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1882-05-25

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IHis Lesker to khs I.ondon Times.1
o. fhs 1zlh 81 Xnrsk. So. 81 ID
dress q very serious public import
was delivered By Or. Koch bafore the
physiological Society Of Berlin. 1t
touches question N which Ne ara
al s. present Interested that of ex-
riGasnta' pllY1ieiogy and ! may.
ahefefoFe. ID permiffed "a give s0ine
asconnk Of il Ia the Ifasaa The 3D.
dress 5 eepy q which has been eour.
ikze' ent s. uz y fhe nn1h0t. =
aStisl6 IL Eli6E1Fg y ron lAf
Disease" Koch frut made himself
known By the penetration, skill and
thOroughness Of his researches on the
contagion Of splsnie fever. By pro-
cess Of incubation and infection, be
traced THE terrible parasite through
all IT. stages Of development and
through it, various modes Of action.
This mastery investigation caused the
young physician to be transferred from
modest country practice, in the
neighborhood Of Breslau. to the post
Of Government Adviser in the Impe-
rial Health Department Of Berlin.
From this department. has lately Ia
sued q most important series Of inves-
LEGATIONS on the etiology Of infective
disorders. Koch's last inquiry deals
with q disease which. in point Of NOR
tality, stands at the head Of them all.
II. he says. the seriousness Of maIa-
dy Be measured By the number of its
victims. then the most dreaded pests
which have hitherto ravaged the world
-plagHe and cholera inclnded-must
stand far behind the one now under
consideration. Koch makes the start
ling statement that one-seventh Of the
deaths Of The human race are due 10
tubercular disease, while fully one
third Of those who die in the active
middle-age are carried of BY thesame
cause. Prior 70 Koch, It had been
Tlaced beyond doubt that the disease
was communicable: and the ain Of
the Berlin physician has been TO de-
lermine the precise character Of the
eontagium which, previous experiments
on iDoculaticn and Inhalation had
proved to be capable Of indefinite trans
fer and reproduction. He subjected
the diseased organs Of q great number
Of men and animals 70 microscopic
examination. aud found. il all eases,
the tubercles infested with minute,
rod-shaped parasite, which by means
Of 9 special dye. he differentiated from
the surrounding tissue. It was, he
says. in the highest degree impressive
to observe in the centre Of the tuber-
Gle cell the minute organism which
had created it. Transferring directly,
BY incubation, the tuberculous mat
ter from diseased animals TO healthy
ones. be in every instance reproduced
the disease. To meet the objection
that It was not the parasite itself, but
some virus ia which il was imbedded
in the diseased organ. that was the
real contagium. he cultivated his bacil-
Il artihcially. for long periods Of time
and through many successive genera
tions. With . speck ofmatter, for exam
pie, from tuberculous human lung. he
infected q substance prepared, after
much trial, by himself, with the view
Of afording nutriment to the parasite.
Here lie permitted It to grow and
multiply. From this new generation
he took o minute sample and infected
Herewith fresh nutritive matter, thus
producing another brood. Generation
after generation Of bacilIi were de-
veloped in this way. without the in
Prevention Of disease. At the end of
The process, which sometimes embrac-
ed successive civilizations extending
over half q year, the purified bacilli
werti introduced into the circulation
Of healthy animals Of various kinds.
In every case iaeculation was fellow
ed by the n reproduction and spread OF
the parasite and the generation Of the
original disease.
Permit me 10 give c further, though
still brief an.a sketchy, account Of
Koch's experim ents OF six guinea
pigs. all in good health, four were in-
Oculated with bacilli derived original
" from human lung, which ia lifty-
four Gays had produced ave success
sive generations. Two of the six an
finals were not infested. In everv
one Of the infected cases the guinea
pig sickened and lost flesh. After
thirty-two days one Of them died. and
after thirty-6ve days the remaining
i've were killed aud examined. In
the guinea-pig that died, and in the
three remaining infected ones, strong
II pronounced tubercular disease had
set IN. Spleen. liver and lunus were
found filed with tnbercles, while in
the two unaffected animals NO trace
of the disease was observed. Ina
second experiment, six ont of eight
gulnea-pigs were inoculafad with cul-
tivated bacilli. derived originally from
the tnbercalous lung of a monkey.
bred and rebred for ninety-five dava
until eight generations had been pro-
duced Every one o. these animals
was attacked. while the two unifec-
ted gulnea-pigs remained perfectly
healthy. Similar experiments were
made With cats. rabbits, rats, nice
and ether animals. and without ex-
ception il was found that the iniee-
tion Of the parasikg into The animal
aystem was followed By decided, and.
ID most casess virulent tubercular dis
ease
u the cases TINS far mentioned. In
oenlaiion had been Infected ia the al
domen. The place Of inocuiation -
aflarward CHANGED IL a. n-.,,,.,....