What Koch's Discovery Leads To

It can safely be assumed that every statement made by Koch himself is true ind accurate. He has gone no further than is justified by the actoal scientific facts. With thi8 assumption, no one eau doubt that Koch has made one of the most important discoveries in the tiistory of medicine. If it be true that "phthisis in the beginning can be cured with certaiuty." it is possible, if not probable, that consumption may be ured in the later stages by supplementing the injections by general hygienic measures of treatment, antiseptic inha[ations and so on, which have already been found useful. The direct value of the discovery of a neans of cnring a disease which is responsible for one tenth of the deaths from all causes, including violence, is indeed greut: but the imagination alraost fails to grasp the importance of the method extended to othef diseases proJuced by micro-organisms. If we know the exact mechanism of the cure for consumption, it is certain that we shall soon be able to successfully apply this knowledge to the study of other diseases. It is possible, in the light of what has recently been accomplished by Koch, that in the near future many curative lymphs will be discovered, each produced by the special micro-organism of each disease. It 'would then be not too much to expect that these agents would promptly arrest the different diseases to which they are applicable. For example: The typhoid lymph, the diphtheric lymph, the lymph for measles, scarlet f ever, etc, would promptly arrest these diseases and save patients from the degenerations and the accidents which are Hable to occur when these diseases are allowed to run their course, and that convalescence will be prompt because the diseases have not produced damage which can only be repaired by time. Truly this would be a revolution in medicine, andit now seems