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They are not foreign invaders like the more violent pathogenic species, such as those of Asiatic cholera, but may be compared to domestic enemies at hand. It is these ever-present bacteria which the surgeon must guard against. The methods by which he does this need not detain us here. They consist essentially in bacteriological cleanliness.
But you must recognize that a physician develops a rather definite feeling for injury after years of experience. My own experience tells me that mental damage of this scope is almost always accompanied by other symptoms when it is the product of a disease. No, I cannot credit the idea of a pathogenic organism too seriously.
To be able to distinguish between the generalization of a septic infection in its incipiency, and a more or less benign edema, is largely possible by digital manipulation alone. An extremity may be greatly swollen because of the existence of chronic lymphangitis, influenza, or an acute septic infection occasioned by the introduction of pathogenic and aerogenic organisms.
They had a built-in, explosive reaction to bacterial and viral toxins, and there hadn't yet been any pathogenic organism discovered to which a tormal could not more or less immediately develop antibody-resistance. So that in interstellar medicine tormals were priceless.
There is again the vaginal secretion, opaque and albuminous, which appears to be alkaline when secreted, but becomes acid under the decomposing influence of bacteria, which are, however, harmless and not pathogenic.
Under the general name of bacteria, there are multitudes of micro-organisms having pathogenic powers, each giving rise to some definite specific disease, and certain associations of different bacteria causing particular morbid conditions.
Spores, which have a high power of resistance, form in the centre of the rods, and bulge out the sides so as to give the organisms a spindle-shaped outline. Other pathogenic organisms are also present and aid the specific bacillus in its action. At the bedside it is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish it from acute infective gangrene.
An ulcer is an open wound or sore in which there are present certain conditions tending to prevent it undergoing the natural process of repair. Of these, one of the most important is the presence of pathogenic bacteria, which by their action not only prevent healing, but so irritate and destroy the tissues as to lead to an actual increase in the size of the sore.
This class of pathogenic bacteria includes those which actually invade the body and feed upon its tissues instead of living simply upon swallowed food. It is difficult, however, to draw any sharp line separating the two classes. They grow in the throat, attached to its walls, and are confined to this external location or to the superficial tissues.
These we may briefly consider under two heads, viz., variation in the bacterium, and variation in the susceptibility of the individual. The first will require only a brief consideration. That the same species of pathogenic bacteria at different times varies in its powers to produce disease has long been known. Various conditions are known to affect thus the virulence of bacteria.
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