The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1882-05-18
Discovery of the cause of Com
sum- ton.


The world has just been startled
by the great discovery of DIR. Koch,
of Berlin. Medical men have long
suspected that consumption was u
communicable, that is, in a sense, a
contagious disease, but the absolute
proof of this view has only been fur
nished by the discovery of the ac-
tual cause of the disease by DIR.
Koch. This cause of tuberculosis
turns out to be parasite, a minute
colorless living particle, which its
discoverer names the bacillus tuber-
culosis. 1t will be a source of won
der to many of our readers why,
with all the research which has been
expended upon this disease for years
"a disease which kills from one to
two-sevenths of mankind-the cause
of it was not discovered long ago.
The reason of it is simply this: The
parasites, germs, or technically
speaking. the bdcuH, of the
disease are colorless, and hence
could not be distinguished from
the media in which they
lived. DIR. Koch has found out
the means of tinting the 6aciAi so as
10 make them visible, and has thus
put within the reach of every
microscopic the means of detecting
them in any organ or secretion of
the body. The coloring substances
he used were methylene blue and
vesuvin. The methylene prepara-
ton colors the whole preparation
blue and the vesuvin discharges the
blue from every element of the
preparation, imparting to them
brown TINT, except the 6GciLli, which
still retain their blue color. OF all
the germs of disease there are but
two which undergo this peculiar re-
action, namely, those of leprosy and
those of tuberculosis. All other
germs lose their blue color under
the action of vesuvin.
The baciIG of tuberculosis thus
rendered visible are found to be
small rOG-like bodies with length
of about one-third the diameter
of the blood corpuscles,
which are 1-3500 of an
inch and in breadth about one sixth
of their length. They are found in
greatest abundance in fresh tub
erculOus masses, in the spectrum of
the disease, in the walls OF the cav
tiles formed by it in the lungs, and
in all the depUts of tubercules in the
body. The same bodies are found
in the bodies of cattle in the So
called "pearl disease" which has so
long been suspected to be the same
disease as the tuberculosis of man.
DIR. Koch was not content with
simply discovering these bodies.
He also devised or worked out
preparation from gelatinized OK
blood in which he sOwed the bdcili
and watched them grow. He found
in this observation that they
best at a temperature be-
tween 85 and 10S degrees Fahren-
heit. The distinguished observer
next subjected his new
discovery to the crucial test, to-wit
of the lower animals.
lie found that be could thus induce
tuberculosis in any animal-even in
those not naturally predisposed to
it, or in those which naturally enjoy
against it, like dogs and
rats. Thus he completed the chain
of experimentation, and, having YER
fled his results by three months of
patient work, he published it TO the
world.
The London Lancet, of April 22d,
reports that even in the short time
that has already elapsed since the
of this discovery the re-
suits have been confirmed by Baum
gartner, another almost equally dis
investigator in the field
of pathology, and at the present
time microscopists all over the world
are busy in the study of the bacilli
of tuberculosis.
The report of this discovery is
received with a sensation in med
ical circles which is as much
greater than that manifested over
the trichina spiralis as tuberculosis
is graver than trichinosis, as it not
only discloses the cause of this
dread disease, but reveals way in
which the causes of other most acute
diseases may be found
out. And though it does not show
us as vet, at least, how the disease
may be cured, it will show us how