A similar trial, conducted six weeks ago at Geneva, has given excellent results. The delegates of the "Ligue Internationale des Associations Touristes" held at Geneva, reported on August 16 that the tarred surface was not slippery, that it was extremely hard, and that the horses' hoofs left no visible trace. During the six weeks that have elapsed, no softening of the layer has been observed in spite of the very hot weather. The frequent rain storms have done no damage. The water washed the surface without making it slippery, and it ran off rapidly, not being able to soak into the road. The cost of the tar, reckoned at 50 francs ($9.65) a ton, came to about a cent for each square yard. It is evident that a road protected from humidity and inclemency by this impermeable layer will last much longer than if left in its natural state, so that the lubrication process presents economic as well as hygienic advantages. The "Touring Club de France," the "Automobile Club de France," and the "Association Générale Automobile" are disposed to encourage these experiments. LUCERNE, September 4, 1902. HENRY H. MORGAN, Consul. SEPTIC TANK SEWAGE SYSTEM IN VANCOUVER. U. S. Consul L. E. Dudley reports (Oct. 2, 1902) that about two years ago the city of Vancouver adopted the septic-tank system for the disposal of its sewage. There are three tanks, located at different points in the city. One of these disposes of the sewage of a district having a population of 5,000 people. The tanks are covered, as the bacteria work in the dark. On a recent visit, I found a scum between two and three inches thick over the surface of the tank; this scum, I was informed, is composed of the little microscopic insects which consume all the solid matter. The tanks had been in full operation for about eighteen months, only clear water had been discharged, and yet there was but a small layer, less than one-half of an inch thick, of ash remaining at the bottom of the tanks. The officers of several municipalities in the near-by States have examined this system and found it so satisfactory that, I am informed, they will recommend the introduction of the septic tanks in their cities. The system is in use at Urbana, Ill. I shall be glad to procure further information for any one who may be interested in adopting this system. THE INFLUENCE OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE RELA- AWARDED THE SCHUYLER ALUMNI PRIZE FOR 1901.* By H. JUDSON LIPES, M.D., Lecturer on Obstetrics, Albany Medical College; Obstetrician to the Albany Guild for the Care of the Sick Poor. Bacteriology as a science is of comparatively recent development, although the foundation of the study of vegetable and other micro-organisms was laid over two centuries ago. The organisms known as bacteria were first regarded as highly complicated "infusion-animals" (Ehrenberg, 1838), while later they came to be looked upon as quite simple vegetable organisms, consisting merely of protoplasm and of a membrane. While the bacterial cells are certainly not the simplest form of cell that may be conceived to exist, they are members of the lowest group of the plant kingdom. They arouse special interest by the fact that bacteria are those organisms which research has brought into relation with the questions of spontaneous generation, fermentation and decay, and the origin of disease. It was the consideration of the most important questions of biology and pathology, of science and medicine, that first directed attention toward bacteria. In the early study of bacterial forms certain kinds with marked characteristics were found in connection with various specific diseases and specific decompositions. Relation of the Study of Bacteriology to Medicine. The germ theory of disease is the revolutionizing factor in medicine. Therapeutics has been changed by its discovery from an empirical to a logical method of cure. Marvelous possibilities in surgery have been opened up as the result, and, best of all, it has explained to us the methods of disease transmission, revolutionizing our ideas of hygiene, sanitation and preventive medicine. *From Albany "Medical Annals," June, 1902. From the earliest times the history of bacteriology has been intimately associated with that of medicine. Indeed, it is only through the investigations into the life-history of micro-organisms in their relation to disease that our present knowledge of the etiology, course, and prevention of the infectious diseases has been acquired; and it is only by the practical application of the principles and methods of bacteriology that many diseases can be positively diagnosed or the problems which present themselves to the sanitarian be certainly solved. The prominent position which bacteriology already holds toward medicine is, moreover, daily increasing in importance. Original discoveries are constantly being added to the list of known germ diseases, and the outlook is favorable for eventually obtaining through serums, or through the toxic substances of the micro-organisms themselves, means for immunizing against, if not curing, many of the specific infections. Even at present, bacterial products and protective serums are used successfully as preventatives in many of the infectious diseases and as a cure in several. An acquaintance, therefore, with the main facts and results of bacteriology is as necessary to the education of the modern physician as a knowledge of anatomy, pathology, chemistry or any of the allied sciences. But before entering into a detailed consideration of the subject, it may be interesting and instructive to review briefly the most important steps which led up to the development of the science, and upon which its foundation rests, in which we shall see that the vast results obtained by bacteriology were gained only through long and laborious research and after many obstacles were met and overcome by indomitable perseverance and accurate observation and experiment. Origin of Bacteria.-The query is often raised by the laity as to whether the present scourge of mankind-bacteria-existed prior to present times. If we are to consider the nebular hypothesis of the origin of the solar system we may believe that the first living things existing upon our earth must have been able to subsist under conditions greatly differing from those which are present to-day. The atmosphere of earlier times must have contained less oxygen, while less light but greater heat prevailed. We now recognize certain forms of bacteria which are able to exist without oxygen, without light, and at a considerable degree of heat. Other than these microscopical bodies there are no organisms which can exist under similar conditions, and we are therefore led to believe that bacteria existed before higher forms developed, and, according to laws of evolution, they may have had much to do with the development of higher forms. The idea that flies, mosquitoes, and even quite invisible bodies, were the cause of disease is not new and can be traced back to very ancient times. The first conception of this subject known to us was manifested in the establishment of the Prince of DevilsBeelzebub-the deity, as the name implies, of visible or invisible poisonous flies that brought disease. Marsh fever was supposed in earlier times (and the idea is still prevalent in the minds of many) to be due to emanations or injurious gaseous substances derived from lowlands and swamps. The theory of the cause of disease was perhaps first proclaimed by the Roman writer, Varro, who said that, "as we recognize with the naked eye both large and small insects hovering over marshes, so insects still smaller are able to exist, and these forms, so small as to be invisible, might perhaps be the cause of marsh fever.” Paracelsus also had a dim foreshadowing of the truth when he spoke of the "seeds of disease." For many years this embryonic theory was lost and did not appear again until the latter part of the seventeenth century. History of Bacteriology. The first authentic observation of living microscopical organisms, of which there is any record, are those of the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher, in 1671. With a simple lens he discovered "minute living worms" by his investigations of the process of putrefaction of meat, milk, vinegar, etc., and although he gave no description of their form or character, he was subsequently the first to develop in a more comprehensive fashion the theory of a contagium animatum. In the latter part of the seventeenth century (September, 1675) Van Leeuwenhoeck, a Hollander, known as the father of Micrography, was the first really to discover the "world of the infinitely little." He was a polisher of lenses, and by the arrangement of several simple lenses he was able to discover living motile organ isms in rain water, intestinal secretions of animals, etc. He showed a picture before the Royal Society of undoubted bacteria and observed and described the motility of organisms, saw cocci and probably spirilla. He termed them infusion animals. No conclusions were drawn, however, as to the status of these organ 141 isms in nature, but he observed that we drink bacteria in water, which, although small, cannot penetrate into the blood. Van Leeuwenhoeck's successors described and classified these "infusion animals" and his discovery was quickly made known and used as the explanation for many diseases. From the earliest investigations into the life-history and properties of bacteria these micro-organisms have been thought to play an important part in the causation of infectious diseases. The doctrine of contagium animatum was based upon the discoveries of Kircher and Van Leeuwenhoeck, and the "animalculæ" then observed in organic materials were believed to be the cause of the great epidemics of the day, such as the plague. Shortly after these first investigations, Lange and Hauptman advanced the opinion that puerperal fever, measles, smallpox, typhus, pleurisy, epilepsy, gout and many other diseases were due to animal contagion, and Nicholas Audry and Linné thought that smallpox and venereal disease were caused by these organisms, and that Audry cured himself of the latter disease by killing the worms with mercury. In 1718 Lancise assumed the same cause for malaria. In fact, so widespread became the belief in a causal relation of these minute organisms to disease that it soon amounted to a veritable craze, and all forms and kinds of diseases were said to be produced in this way, upon no other foundation than that these organisms had been found in the mouth and intestinal contents of men and animals, and in water. Nearly a century elapsed before the subject was again considered and before any attempt was made to define the character of these minute organisms and to classify them. The first to make such an effort was Otto Friedrich Müller, of Copenhagen, who applied many of the names we still use, and he established, as well, genera which are still recognized. He called these microscopic organisms Infusoria instead of vegetable forms, and thus made the mistake which aroused considerable debate and misunderstanding, since the infusoria are unicellular animal organisms. During the eighteenth century the question of spontaneous generation of bacteria arose. The theory of the spontaneous generation of insects had been previously overthrown by Swammerdam. (in 1669), and the whole subject was gone over again in relation to the more minute bodies-the bacteria. The conclusions of |