The germ theories of infectious diseases / by John Drysdale.
- Drysdale, John James, 1817-1892.
- Date:
- 1878
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The germ theories of infectious diseases / by John Drysdale. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
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![erect, and does not experience the slightest inconvenience from the brightest sunshine. She can see the minutest needlework, and is no longer dependent on the care and attention of others.” * This is the rule : the eye is simply touched with the infective matter, and the disease allowed to run its course without the slightest medicinal interference, and with the above result. There is no fear of relapse, which constantly occurs after all other means of amendment. In accordance with what is seen with smallpox, the inoculated disease is here milder than the purulent ophthal- mia caught naturally, and the latent stage is shorter. (§ 22.) We find it also stated by Mr. Soelberg Wells,f “ The matter from an eye suffering from inoculation is stronger than that from an infant [from which it is taken], as its activity appears to be increased by the inoculation.” This agrees with what has been said at § § 18, 23. In accordance with the principles set forth in the foregoing pages, the rationale of the cure by this method is as follows :—The plastids of the conjunctiva and cornea are in a state of germinal degradation, with so great a loss of formative power that they cannot produce the compact, transparent, healthy form of these tissues. Then the infective partial bions inoculated, unite with them, exciting a temporary increase of similar protoplasmic matter and profuse non-living secretion. When this subsides, the effect of the stimulus to the fixed plastids is seen in rejuvenescence, or regeneration of their full germinal faculty and formation of healthy tissue anew. (§ 23.) The result of this operation does indeed strike the observer as in reality a renewal of youth, or a new birth of the part. The tendency of the plastids in a state of germinal degrada- tion, or, in fact, variation, to revert to their original state, * See London and Edinburgh Monthly Journal of Medical Science, May, 1844. + Treatise on Diseases of the Eye. 2nd Ed., p. 67.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22355248_0079.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
