Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/797

Rh acted like parasites, and exhausted the system during their development. It is now, however, more commonly believed that the organisms elaborate a special ferment or poison, which, when produced in sufficient amount, gives rise to the symptoms of the disease.

One of the most valuable results of the study of these organisms is the discovery that by cultivation the virulence of some, at least, can be so mitigated that when inoculated they produce only slight and non-fatal symptoms, the development of which in a given animal is nevertheless protective against future attacks of the original disease. By cultivating the organisms of splenic fever at a temperature of 108°, it is found that filaments are produced but not spores, and that by repeated cultivation this growth becomes altered as regards its properties of causing disease. When inoculated it sets up a mild form of splenic fever, not dangerous to life, but perfectly protective against subsequent inoculation with the otherwise poisonous organisms. This discovery is worthy of being classed with that of vaccination as a protection against small-pox.

With regard to the channels through which the contagious organisms are spread, a few words will suffice to state what is known on this point, which is intimately connected with the subject of disinfection. Air and water are the chief media for the propagation of infectious disease. In the case of scarlet fever, which has been taken as the type, the scales detached from the skin and similar tissues from the throat contain the germs of the disease, and these find their way into the atmosphere and are received into the lungs. They attach themselves also to articles of clothing and furniture, and are thus often carried long distances. In the cases of cholera and typhoid fever, the discharges from the patient find their way into water, which thus becomes the channel by which the diseases are propagated. Food, too, may become similarly contaminated. Milk, for instance, has been often known to convey the poisons of typhoid fever, of scarlet fever, and of diphtheria. In the case of the first, the contamination has been probably due to adulterating the milk with foul water containing the disease-genns, but it may have arisen in some cases from the typhoid emanations having been absorbed by the milk. The poisons of scarlet fever and diphtheria were probably transmitted to the milk from the skins and throats of persons employed in the dairy and recently convalescent or scarcely recovered from attacks of these diseases. The germs of certain other infectious diseases find their way into the system through abraded surfaces of the body.

The fatal character of many infectious diseases, and the ease and rapidity with which they spread and attack large masses of the population, are sufficient to account for the endeavors that have been made since very early times to arrest their progress. As in many other matters, practice has preceded science, and, centuries before the vaguest