SPONTANEOUS GENERATION OF DISEASE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 6192, 13 December 1881, Page 4

SPONTANEOUS GENERATION OF DISEASE.

The following is a quotation upon the above, subject from Sir John Lubbock's inaugural address at the British Association meeting at York :—

Nothing could have appeared less hkoly than that researches into the theory of spontaneous generation should have led to practical improvements in medical science. Yet such has been the case. Only a few years ago Bacteria seemed mere scientific curiosities. It had long been known that an infusion—say, of haywould, if exposed to the atmosphere, bo found, after a certain time, to teem with living forms. Even those few who still believe that life would bo spontaneously generated in such an infusion, will admit that these minute organisms are, if not entirely, yet mainly, derived from germs floating in our atmosphere; and if precautions are taken to exclude such germs, as in the careful experiments, especially of Pasteur, Tyndall, and Roberts, everyone will grant that in 90 cases out of 100 no such development of life will take place. These facta have led to most important results in surgery. One reason why compound fractures are so dangerous is because the skin being broken the air obtains access to the wound, bringing with it innumerable germs, which too often set up putrefying action. Lister first made a practical application of these observations. He set himself to find some substance capable of killing the gorms without being itself too potent a caustic, and he found that dilute carbolic acid fulfilled theso conditions. This discovery has enabled many operations to bo performed which would previously have been almost hopeless. The same idea seems destined to prove as useful in rnedicino as in surgery. There is groat reason to suppose that many disoases, especially those or a zymotic character, have thoir origin in the germs of special organisms. We know that fever runs a certain definite course The parasitic organisms are at first few, but gradually multiply at tho expense of tlio patient, and then die out again. Indeed it seems to bo thoroughly established that many diseases are due to the excessivo multiplication of microscopic organisms; and wo are not without hope that means will be discovered by which, without injury to tho patient, these terrible, though minute, enemies may be destroyed, ana tho disease thus stayed. The interesting researches of Burdon Sanderson, Greenfield, Koch, Pasteur, Toussaint, and others scorns to justify the hope that we may be ablo to modify these and other germs, and then by appropriate inoculation to protect ourselves against fever and other acute disoases. Tho history of ansesthotics is a most remarkable illustration how long wo may bo on tho very vorgo of a most important discovery. Ether, which as wo all know produces perfect insensibility to pain, was discovered as long ago as 1540. The aiuesthotic property of nitrous oxido, now so extensively used, was obsorvod in ISOO by Sir H. Davy, who actually experimented on himself, and had ono of his tooth painlessly extracted when under its influence He oven suggests that "as nitrous oxido gas suoitm oajiable of destroying pain, it could probably bo used with advantage in surgical operations." Nay, this property of nitrous qxido was habitually oxplainod and illustrated in the chemical lectures given in hospitals, and yet for 50 years tho gas was never used in actual operations, Few branches ( if scionco have made moro rapid progress in tho '»3t half-century than that which deals with tho ancient condition of man.