The Bacillus of Malaria

Abstract

A PAPER of unusual interest in relation to the question of the agency of microphytes in the production of disease will shortly appear in Prof. Cohn's botanical Beitädge (vol. v. part 2). For many years the efforts of pathologists have been directed in this relation to the subject of malaria. The local conditions which determine the “endemic” prevalence of ague have been studied with considerable exactitude. They are such as to indicate very clearly that the material cause of intermittent fever, although it is generated in the soil, acts through the air. The fact that its influence is restricted within very narrow limits of distance from its source indicates that it is not diffusible like a gas or vapour, but consists of particles which, on various grounds, are surmised to be living organisms of extreme minuteness. Can this be established on evidence which will bear criticism?