A text-book upon the pathogenic bacteria : for students of medicine and physicians / by Joseph McFarland.

  • McFarland, Joseph, 1868-1945.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A text-book upon the pathogenic bacteria : for students of medicine and physicians / by Joseph McFarland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ible only so long as there were particles suspended in the at¬ mosphere to reflect it. When the dust had completely settled and the light ray had become invisible because of the purity of the contained atmosphere, the tubes were cautiously filled with urine, beef-broth, and a variety of animal and vegetable broths, great care being taken that in the manipulation the pipet should not disturb the dust. Their contents were then boiled by submergence in a pan of hot brine placed beneath the chamber, in contact with the projecting ends of the tubes, and subsequently allowed to remain undisturbed for days, weeks, or months. In nearly every case life failed to develop in the infusions after the purity of the atmosphere was established. The following extracts from Tyndall’s work * will illus¬ trate how slowly the doctrine of spontaneous generation was abandoned: “At a meeting of the Pathological Society of London, held April 6, 1875, the ‘germ theory’ of disease was formally introduced as a subject for discussion, the debate being continued with great ability and earnestness at subsequent meetings. The conference was attended by many dis¬ tinguished medical men, some of whom were profoundly influenced by the arguments, and none of whom disputed the facts brought forward against the theory on that occa¬ sion. “The leader of the debate, and the most prominent speaker, was Dr. Bastian, to whom also fell the task of replying on all the questions raised. “The coexistence of bacteria and contagious disease was admitted; but, instead of considering these organisms as probably the essence, or an inseparable part of the es¬ sence, of the contagium, Dr. Bastian contended that they were pathological products spontaneously generated in the body after it had been rendered diseased by the real contagium. “The grouping of the ultimate particles of matter to form living organisms Dr. Bastian considered to be an operation as little requiring the action of antecedent life as their grouping to form any of the less complex chemical compounds.” “Such a position must, of course, stand or fall by the evidence which its supporter is able to pro¬ duce, and accordingly Dr. Bastian appeals to the law and testimony of experiment as demonstrating the soundness * Op. cit.