Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-11-23

sphere should form the subject Of devoted
study both in the United States and IN
Europe.
Dom:ngos Friere, Carmona Vale and
Others have passed into almost oblivion,
after having excited acrimonious contr"-
versy and having been proved to he large
" errors of Interpretation. due mainly 70
faulty laboratory technique. The lahors
of Sternberg We're ariu0as, systematic ana
had as a result the clearing away OF mary
erroneous impressions, and Of inviting ana
fixing attention Oh the stomach, liver ana
upper portion of the intestine! tract as tne
probable field of future research.
study OF Micro-Orgmnisms.
I'm the meantime much labor had been
expended upon the study of the mcro-or-
ganisus of the normal intestinal canal,
with the result that the subject was found
| to be one of vast dimensions, and involving
at every turn the elucidation Of new prob
lens and bringing to light heretofore small
but most important differences. As an in
stance of this, and as pregnant with the
most important facts. has been the study
of the bacillus coli commands. for a long
! time considered as a single. wel-defined,
normal and harmless deniZen of the m
testinal canal OF man AMI most of the low
er animals. But the Researches OF Booker
and others demonstrated that 1t would be
impossible longer to consider this orSan-
ism as single species. and that II must
be considered of great group. pos
sessing many characteristics in common.
but at the same time presenting many
points of difference, and these points not
altogether morphological or cultural. but
chemical, and consisting in many instances
in their behavior to reagents and med ana
in the chemistry of the products of their
growth. 1t was notably the constant oc-
currence of organisms of this group which
has led to most of the announcements Of
the discovery of the specific organism of
yellow fever, discoveries which, however.
did not withstand the scrutiny to which
such alleged discoveries must ever be SUB
iected.
SternberE's Discovery.
"At the conclusion of Sternberg's investi
cations the organism which had most at
tracted his attention was one isolated in
Havana possessing some of the characters
tics as then known and considered, of the
bacillus coli communis, but lacking others
which We're pathogenic to animals and
which he designated at bacillus x
In 1891 there were presented at the In
stitute Pasteur in Paris two claims to the
discovery of the specific organism of yellow
fever. one from Havelberg of Rio de jan
Giro, Brazil, the other from Prof. Sanarel-
Ii of the University of MonteVideo, both
trained observers and pupils of the institute.
Their claims Were widely different, and IL
was obvious that one of the two claims
| must be rejected. This was not matter OF
difficulty. Investigation showed that Ha-
velberg had added one more to the number
of those whose differentiation of the colon
bacillus had not been sufficiently minute
and painstaking The claims of Sanareli
were more intricate, His theory of infection
was new and elaborate, but unfortunately
the percentage of cases in which his al
legged bacillus interoid was found was only
slightly over 80 per cent.
The Havana Inquiry.
Passing on to the Havana inquiry. DR..
Geddings states:
fortunate, us, owing to the almost entire
cessation of immigration into the island or
account of the war there was very little fe-
yer in the city, and the strained political re-