Abstract
To reprint these essays in an easily-accessible form was a happy thought of the author's. It is of vast importance to the public at large that they should at least know what views are being held by a large majority of working and thinking men on the subjects of putrefaction and infection. Quite apart from the question of how germs originate is the question of what evils arise from their presence; and although, with most of those who have investigated the matter, we regard it as well proven that, except from a pre-existing germ, no new germ arises, yet we would be prepared almost to overlook this part of the matter in our anxiety to see proper notions diffused as to the effects produced by these “floating matters of the air.” The benefits that mankind has gained by the researches of the biologist, chemist, and physicist into this subject are already beyond calculation; nor is there yet any apparent limit to them. From the pages of this small volume some ideas may be gleaned of what the modern treatment of surgical cases has gained by a knowledge of this subject; nor do we think the day far distant when medicine may reach to the rank of surgery through an insight into the germ causation of febrile disease. The history of the silkworm disease in Italy and France bears witness to the enormous value, even if measured in a commercial sense, of the labours of Pasteur, Quatrefages, and others in working out from this point of view the parasitic diseases that caused at one time the almost total destruction of the silk industry in Europe; and the history of Pasteur's researches on fermentation, even when told in a few words, as in the fourth chapter of this volume, does it not tell of discoveries full of benefit to one portion at least of mankind? Prof. Tyndall well writes: “The antiseptic system of surgery is based on the recognition of living contagia as the agents of putrefaction.” Keep these away, destroy them either by an excess of cold or heat, and the putrefaction is prevented. But this is true not of surgery only; it makes itself felt in the routine of every-day life. An account was laid before the Academy of Sciences of Paris, in May of this year, of an examination of the feeding-bottles in use at a crèche in Paris. The milk for the children put into these contracted a nauseous odour. Of thirty-one examined, twenty-eight contained in the eaoutchouc tubes or nipples germs (microscopical microbes), and even in some cases there were masses, more or less abundant, of fungoid vegetations. The milk found remaining in some was acid, with numerous bacteria; and this in spite of what was thought to be cleanliness. No wonder Prof. Tyndall writes of such material—such matter out of place—as dirt. We cannot all contrive to live in the grand, pure air to be found in such places as the Bel Alp; but all could help towards making the air of their dwellings freer from the contagion of dirt; and if right and accurate notions were held on such matters by all interested in them, prevention would soon be seen to be much better than cure. This little volume will be found exceedingly interesting reading, and its contents will furnish the reader with abundant material for thought, which perhaps may, in floating through his brain, take root there and bring forth a crop of good fruit.
Essays on the Floating-Matter of the Air in Relation to Putrefaction and Infection.
By John Tyndall (London: Longmans and Co., 1881.)
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W., E. Essays on the Floating-Matter of the Air in Relation to Putrefaction and Infection . Nature 25, 6 (1881). https://doi.org/10.1038/025006b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/025006b0