Cellular toxins, or, The chemical factors in the causation of disease / by Victor C. Vaughan... and Frederick G. Novy.

  • Vaughan, Victor C. (Victor Clarence), 1851-1929.
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Cellular toxins, or, The chemical factors in the causation of disease / by Victor C. Vaughan... and Frederick G. Novy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    the biological sciences. The study of form naturally and necessarily precedes the study of function. The ornithologist finds a new species of bird; he first studies its shape and size, the color of its plumage, the form of its beak, the number and arrangement of the feathers of the tail and wing, the color of the eyes, etc. All this can be done with a single specimen, recognizing the fact, however, that variations more or less marked are likely to be found in other individuals. More time and wider opportunities for observation will be needed before he can tell where and when this bird is accustomed to build its nest, upon what insects, grains and berries it feeds, with what other species of birds it lives in peace, and with what it is at war. A much greater range of observation and study is necessary before the naturalist can tell how his newly discovered species would thrive if carried to a new climate where it would be compelled to live upon unaccustomed food, to build its nest of strange material, and to encounter new foes. We repeat that it is no discredit to the science nor to those who have developed it to say that the study of bacteriology has largely been morphological. Without the morphologist, the physiologist and the physiological chemist could not exist. The science having had for its support largely morphological studies, the deductions and formulated statements arrived at by its students have been reached in accordance with the knowledge obtained from this source ; but since it has been admitted that the causal relationship between a given germ and a certain disease is dependent upon the chemical products of the growth of the germ, the fundamental lines of work must be made to correspond with this knowledge. We may briefly enumerate some of the problems that now lie be- fore us in our attempts to study the chemical factors in the causation of the bacterial diseases. In the first place, it will be desirable to define and classify the chemical products of bacterial activity. In doing this it will be desirable at all times to distinguish between those substances which have their origin in the cleavage action of bacteria and those which are formed by synthetical processes within the cell; but our knowledge upon this subject is not as yet sufficiently advanced, nor does it possess that degree of accuracy necessary before we can determine positively the manner of formation of these substances. In defining and classifying the chemical prod- ucts of bacterial activity we will find quite naturally that there is not complete agreement among those who have worked in this field of science. Every attempt at the classification of bacterial products must at present be regarded as provisional and subject to such alter- ations as future discoveries may indicate. It will also be found that it is not possible in all cases to distinguish between poisonous and harmless bacterial products. This subject will be discussed more in detail later.