The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1882-03-02
fhe Germs Of fDisease-Fung0us 6rewths
in the Human System.

An interesting lecture was delivered .
last evening before the members OF the /
Academy of Natural Sciences by DR.. /
Horatio c. Wood, Professor of Materia |
Medica in the University of Pennsyl-
vania, on the Fungous Origin of Dis
ease. The researches of which the
evenings lecture was the outcome were !,
made by DEF. e. Formal and by Prof.
Wood, under the auspices of the Ma
tionaf Board of Health, and referred
more especially TO the plant which pro-
duces diphtheria and is known under
the name of micrOcOcci.
The lecturer related the work done
by himself and colleague in the summer
| of 1880 in experimenting upon animals
! by the introduction of diphtheritic
membrane Most of ofthem. it was found,
hat died from consumption. though
| raise membrane had been produced
. similar TO that seen in dlphtheria in the
| child. A severe epidemic OF diphtheria
! having occurred in Ludington, Michi-
ran. in 1850. IN Forn~A N.is;tnf that
| town 10 make studies Of 1.ic cases anu
! to collect matter. Gp to this time
I nothing remarkable had been found in
! the blood of Philadelphia patients, but
in the membrane there has since been
/ discovered d microscopic plant known
as micrococc. and the blood of the
! Ludinguon patients was always full of
it. choking up the internal organs OF
the children who died, and especially in
the spleen and kidneys. incubation of
animals with the matter brought from
| Ludington always formed false mem
brane at the point of inoculation, which
was, with the blood, found to be full OF
nlicrococci after death, and the symp
toms in life resembled those of diphtheria
in man. The conclusion was then reached
that diphtheria has been produced i'll
animals In the membrane the micro
cocci exist in several forms, sometimes
scattered or in masses OF "a lew or i'll
pods known as micrococci balls, and iu
masses of gelatinous material full of lit
tie plants. They are generally first
found in the white corpuscle, and can be
seen, though very minute, in lively ac-
tion, dancing about as if eating it up.
| The corpuscle was seen TO alter, grow
ing watery, and the little plants iinally
filed it up until the corpusc!e burst.
and its interior came out as an irregu
lar translucent mass, which formed the
,nicrococci ball seen in the patient's
throat Modern physiology teaching
that the blood is largely forned in the
bone marrow and in the spleen, these
organs were found largely crowded
with the little plants, and their cultiva
ton outside of the body was tried with
ali the precautions known 10 scientists.
Philadelphia matter was feeble of
growth, ceasing to increase on the
fourth generation, while that of Lud-
ington seemed to develop us rapidly at
the tenth generation as at the lirst.
Plants entirely like the micrococci of
: diphtheria in general appearance eX-
ist on the surface of furried tongue,
) cut these showed in experiments in the
culture apparatus very little power of
, growth. The next series OF experiments
were made to determine whether the
micrococci of diphtheria is the cause OF
the disease. It was known that an in
fusion OF diphtheritic membrane
) filtered lost its virulence in direct pro-
| portion to the thoroughness of the
, filtration The liquor filtered through
clay. lost all its solid particles and was
| no longer poisonous, and this proved
that the contagious matter of diphtheria
5 is a solid particle. The result of the
, experiments served to show that the
] micrococci were the cause of the dis
ease either directly or indirectly. Diph-
, | theritic micrococci, artificially grown
by the experimenters in its several gen
erations, produced undoubted diphthe-
ria in animals and de,.th. The matter,
brought from Ludington, exposed tc
t the air for several weeks, lost its viru
lence, and failed to produce the disease.
Prof Wood and DIR. Formad both
concluded from the experiments that
these micrococci, which exactly re-
sembled the micrococci of diphtheris
and lost their virulence and power OF
growth thus became converted, in other
words, to t,ia LII plants oi tlle iurreo
tongue, and were of the opinion that
4 the plants are identical in their specific
nature with sore throat in a child
4 under the stimulus of the emulation
the torpid micrococci, always present
e in the mouth begin to grow and to be
: converted into the active stage. TheiI
growth further influence the mucous
membrane of the throat and This IN.
u creased lnIianl- -latlUii -ccIS it still more
so the starved micrococci' said the
Professor became converted into the
bloated bondholder and a case of self
created diphtheria results. The active
I little plants find suitable resting place
in the throat of the delicate child, begin
g to grow and soon develope the disease.
g The scattered mild cases originate in
K the individual and comprise the ordi.
e nary cases seen in Philadelphia. When
: catarrh comes in the spring, when the
i air is full of active micrococci, malig
n nant epidemic results" Prof. WooG
It spoke of the parsimony of the Unitet
e States Government, which will spent
! thousands of dollars in political inves
tigation and will deny one cent to sucf
important medical inquiries. es.-Philadel
pbi0 Press.