Page:The advancement of science by experimental research - the Harveian oration, delivered at the Royal College of Physicians, June 27th, 1883 (IA b24869958).pdf/53

 person to another. Whilst there is much to warrant this opinion let us bear m mind that it is not as yet established; fuller facts will doubtless be brought forth by other observers, and it is wiser to wait for clearer knowledge before we at once accept the opinions of these observers upon the data already made out. We desire to know more of the natural history of these bacilli, whether they are really animal structures possessing individual life and advancing to fuller development, or mere fragments of living organism about to pass into inorganic forms. They increase in size, spores appear to be produced and set free, or they propagate by simple division. But whence do these bacilli come to be found in the cells of tubercle, and not to leave traces behind them of their mode of entrance, or are these the commencement of degenerative change in ill developed tissue?

The munificent grant of the Grocers’ Company in the city of London, for the establishment of a Quadrennial Discovery prize, may, we trust, lead to advancement