The fungoid origin of disease, and spontaneous generation / by Jabez Hogg.

  • Hogg, Jabez, 1817-1899.
Date:
[1871]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The fungoid origin of disease, and spontaneous generation / by Jabez Hogg. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    | VII.—The Fungoid Origin of Disease, and Spontaneous Generation. By Jabez Hogg, lion. Sec. B.M.S. II In the report of the medical officer of the Privy Council just issued, the origin and pathology of contagion is ably discussed, and the crude hypothesis of Hallier bearing upon this point, who, it will bo remembered, sought to prove that the microzymes and sporules of I fungi which he found in the fluids of persons affected with cholera I caused the disease and explained its contagious nature, is finally I disposed of. This vexed question, one of no small importance to the I public, and of great interest for the medical profession, receives at I the hands of Dr. Sanderson, the writer of this part of the report, I all the care and attention it really deserves. His experiments and I investigations fully bear out all I have stated on this subject, and I conclusively show that neither bacteria nor microzymes are con- I cerned in the production of any specific form of disease in the I living animal body, and therefore when found must be looked upon I as an indication of a putrefactive process occurring after death. A I drop of water, a glass slide, or even a finger coming into contact with I a fluid or tissue under examination, is quite sufficient to cause the I development of either bacteria or microzymes, in an incredibly short I space of time. In this way a disturbing element is introduced I which mars and mystifies the most carefully made investigations of I the histologist. Admitting that the spores of fungi are always present in the I atmosphere, although at some periods not in very great multitudes, I it by no means follows, nor can it be shown that they are the cause I of any specific form of disease. And, if it be true that so slight a I contamination as that spoken of by Dr. Sanderson when brought I into contact with a fluid is sufficient to change its character and I start organic germs into life, then experiments said to prove that I living matter can begin de novo in solutions subjected to long boil- I ing must be accepted with extreme caution. For who can under- I take to say with any degree of certainty that the breaking of a I becker, in which a vacuum has been produced, can be conducted I with sufficient care to prevent the possibility of a rush of air, I carrying with it some organic particles, which shall contaminate I or impregnate the whole ? This, a point of the utmost importance, I has not received much attention, although it is sufficient to embar- rass and confound the results arrived at in the investigations of Dr. Bastian. The ingenious way in which it is sought to explain experiments made by submitting a solution to a temperature of 160° F., alleged to be sufficient to destroy all evidence of life, while in another sub- jected to a much greater heat, ranging from 260° to 302° F.,