Excerpt from The Retrospect of Practical Medicine and Surgery, Vol. 52: Being a Half-Yearly Journal, Containing a Retrospective View of Every Discovery and Practical Improvement in the Medical Sciences, January, 1866But there is still a stronger argument. We have the positive fact that us will live for a considerable time in urine, and therefore we are quite justi ed in assuming that other kinds of germinal matter allied to pus, and capable of living under a still greater variety of conditions than pus, would retain their vitality in urine, fences, and other excretions. As numerous facts estab lish is the case with regard to some forms of contagious matter. As we have positive evidence that minute particles of pus may pass through the air, or remain on sponges, clothes, &c., , for many hours without their vitality being destroyed. Is it not reasonable to assume that the living matter of con tagious diseases, supposing it to be allied to pus, should retain its vitality under the same or under yet more adverse conditions? Does not this view receive confirmation from our experience with regard to the conditions which are favourable to the propagation of contagious fevers? A warm, moist atmosphere, small close rooms, with curtains, carpets, and plant {of clothes, rag, &c., , so arranged as to cause air to be pent up in con ned spaces with very slow interchange, - are the circumstances which favour the spread of contagion, and a disposition to prevent currents of air from find ing their way into every part or into any part of an a artment is a mental characteristic of many of those who are too often sh erers from the worst forms of contagious diseases, while has not experience tau ht us that the converse of all this almost certainly prevents the spread o contagion, dc stroys the active material. Or renders its assaults perfectly harmless? And would not free change of air, washing, frequently shaking of clothes, extreme cold, dryness, or a very high temperature be likely to destroy the vitality of such particles of living matter as I suppose to be the active agents in the propagation of contagious diseases?About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.