Volume 2

Fragments of science : a series of detached essays, addresses, and reviews / by John Tyndall.

  • John Tyndall
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Fragments of science : a series of detached essays, addresses, and reviews / by John Tyndall. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    484/508 (page 472)
    guinea-pigs, and other animals witli the organism, and never failed to communicate to them the disease. He threw a flood of light on its character and mode of propagation, teaching us thereby the jDrecautions to be observed in dealing with it. The following fact will not be lost on the reflecting mind. The expectora- tion of consumptive patients he proved to contain swarms of bacilli, which, mingling with the dust on the floors, especially of poorer dwellings, get wafted through the air, thus spreading the infection. Intro- duced into the blood of animals, this dust produced tuberculosis. Koch's researches presented a grave warning, as well as invaluable knowledge, to physicians. I sent a brief account of Koch's investigation to the Times,^ and was censured for doing so a day or two iiffcerwards by one of the most eminent of London doctors. He expressed regret at my having made Koch's investigation known—first because it would frighten people, and, secondly, because it was all wrong. This distinguished man affirmed his ability to produce tuberculosis by the introduction of common dirt into the circulation. Well, it is vain to think that know- ledge such as that given to us by Koch can be hidden from the public, and it is still more vain to suppose that without the special organism of tuberculosis the introduction of any amount of dirt into the circulation will produce it. In connection with this subject I have recently had the following sad experience:—! spend about three months of every year in the Alps, and the people among whom I live, at a height of over 7,000 feet above the sea, are frequently in need of surgical and medical assistance. I do what little I can to help them. Last year I was requested to see a poor man who, in the » [April 22, 1882.]