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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    and is, moreover, not an accidental, but a pure parasite, and can only originate in an animal organism. The second question—How do the parasites enter the body ?—must now be considered. The great majority of all cases of tuberculosis begin in the respiratory tract, and the infectious material first becomes apparent in the lungs or bronchial gland. It is therefore very probable that the bacilli are inhaled clinging to particles of dust. The way and manner in which they become mixed with the air is no longer mysterious, when we consider the quantity of bacilli in pulmonary cavities which, mixed with other contents, are expectorated and everywhere disseminated. ♦ * * * * Moreover, such sputum after drying does not lose its virulence. ... It can therefore be inferred that sputum which has been diied upon the ground, on the clothes, etc., retains its virulence for a loner time, and, should it enter the lungs as dust, is capable of causing tuberculosis. It is probable that the tenacity of this virulence depends upon the spores of the bacilli, and it may here be stated that the spore-development of this bacillus takes place within the animal body, and not outside it, as in the case of the Bacillus anthracis. * # . « * « Let us now ask ourselves of what further importance are the results of these investigations ? In the first place, it may be regarded as a triumph of science that it is now possible to produce complete proof of the parasitic nature of a human infectious disease ; of the disease, indeed, of all others tlic most important. • ♦ # * * Clear rules for the warding oti' of i)htliisis have not been possible heretofore. But in the future struggle against