Zymosis and Pathogenesis

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1892. Excerpt: ... carbolic acid in oil. The same, he states, holds good of salycilic acid and thymol. Such carbolised oil has no more effect than ordinary oil. In all cases where it is sought to disinfect dry objects, such as instruments, silk, catgut, etc., there is absolutely no effect, even upon the least resistant mild organism, beyond that due to the oil itself. Also, Koch shewed that in order to prevent bacterial growth, the carbolic acid must be present in water or vapour in the proportion of 1 to 400. The same remarks apply to a solution of carbolic acid in alcohol. These results, as Koch pointed out, have a most important bearing on carbolic acid solutions used for purposes of disinfection. We now see, he s_ays, that beyond the mechanical effect of washing, such precautions are of no avail whatever in the case of organisms as resistant as anthrax spores. CONCLUSION. We have now brought this short sketch to a conclusion. We feel that, meagre and imperfect though it be, yet it sets forth the great cardinal facts on which this comparatively young science rests. We say young science, but we must not forget, however, that, as in other scientific advances, so in this, there have been in the centuries past some strong inklings of the truths made clearer by modern knowledge and research. The ancient authors, Varro and Columella, expressed a belief that minute organisms were the cause of malarial fevers. Diodorus explained the Athenian plague as the consequence of overcrowding, and of the influence of effluvia and decomposing debris. The exposure of bodies, consequent upon imperfect burial, was recognised as a cause of the plague in the Middle Ages. Kirchu, in the fifteenth century, with his rudimentary microscope, expressed his belief that diseases were to be ascr...