On the causes of the spread of pulmonary consumption and other tubercular diseases, and on the means which may be taken to prevent their dissemination / Eben. Duncan.

  • Duncan, Eben.
Date:
[1892]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the causes of the spread of pulmonary consumption and other tubercular diseases, and on the means which may be taken to prevent their dissemination / Eben. Duncan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    [FROM THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF GLASGOW ] 0n the Cau^s of the Spread of Pulmonary Consumption and other Tubercular Diseases, and on the means which may be taken to prevent their Dissemination. By Eben. Duncan, M D Physician to the Victoria Infirmary; Examiner in Clinical Medicine in the University of Glasgow; and Vice-President of the Sanitary Association of Scotland. [Read before the Society, 30th March, 1892.] The chief members of the group of tubercular diseases are— 1. Phthisis pulmonalis (consumption of the lungs) ; 2. Tabes mesenterica (consumption of the bowels) ; 3. Tubercular meningitis (water in the head); and 4. Scrofulous disease, so common in the glands, the bones, and the joints. But, in addition to these, we have a multitude of diseases in all parts of the bodies of men and of the lower animals in which tubercular disease is the essential element. There is no other Class of ailment affecting animal life so wide-spread and so destructive. The experiments of Koch, the discoverer of the tubercle bacillus, have proved not only the presence of that micro-organism in every one of these tubercular diseases but also the important fact that by the inoculation of a pure cultiva- tion of the bacillus, grown in coagulated blood serum, diseases exactly similar can be induced in the bodies of all warm-blooded animals. Koch’s experiments have been confirmed by numerous reliable men in all parts of the world. There is, therefore now no reasonable ground for doubting Koch’s statement that in whatever organ or tissue tubercular or scrofulous disease may >c found, the actual exciting cause of the disease is the tubercle bacillus. This bacillus is a micro-organism which is seen under a hio-h power of the microscope as a rod-like body measuring in length ^ ID