The prevention of consumption : a mode of prevention founded on a new theory of the nature of the tubercle-bacillus / by C. Candler.

  • Candler, C.
Date:
1887
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The prevention of consumption : a mode of prevention founded on a new theory of the nature of the tubercle-bacillus / by C. Candler. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    ence to which I attribute such unfortunate, and possibly to many thousands such disastrous, consequences is the one which Koch draws as to the botanical position of the bacillus. This conclusion, I shall endeavour to show, has obscured all etiological questions relating to phthisis, and thwarted every effort for its prevention. As the argument mainly turns upon this question of the pure parasitism of the bacillus, we will give such extracts from Koch's celebrated Address as will be touched upon. They are taken from an excellent translation by Dr. W. D. Oakley, which appeared in the Canada Medical and Surgical Journal, and will serve for convenient refer- ence. Towards the end of the Address, Koch says— The parasitic nature of the tubercular virus having thus been rendered certain, in order to complete our know- ledge of this disease two questions must be answered— Where do the parasites originate; and how do they gain entrance into the body ? With reference to the first question, it is necessary to decide whether the infectious material develops only under such conditions as are provided by the animal body, or whether, as can the splenic fever bacillus, it can pass through its development-process in any place free in nature. The results of several experiments showed that the tubercle bacillus can grow only at the temperature of 30° to 41° C. Under 30°, and at 42°, not the slightest growth took place during three weeks' time; while, on the other hand, the Bacillus anthracis grows actively between 20° and 42° or 43° C. On the ground of this one fact, the first question can be answered. In temperate zones, at no time does there occur at least two weeks of a continuous temperature of over 30°. It follows, therefore, that the tubercle bacillus in its process of development is limited to the animal body,