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10
The growth and development of sanitary science, together
with the adoption of its teachings by all sections of the public,
has cleared away a mass of vague superstition which had
lingered in the minds of the ignorant from past generations.
Disease was looked upon as a visitation of providence and as a
punishment for sin, and whilst it was regarded as supernatural
in origin, it is not a matter of surprise that no steps were
taken—or only very inefficient ones—either to prevent an
outbreak or to limit its extension. Superstition produced
fatalism, and it was considered wicked, or at least useless,
to fight against that which was deemed the inevitable.
But time has advanced, education has changed the conditions
of life, and with them the opinions of men. Disease
is no longer regarded as a manifestation of the anger of an
offended Deity, nor as the outcome and consequence of the
breach or the neglect of a divine law, but as the result of
natural causes, modified by varying conditions, and obeying
fixed natural laws.
The introduction of the microscope into the service of
research, and the continued study of the life-history of
vegetable growth in its lowest forms, have resulted in the
discovery of the origin and nature of infectious disease, and
have led to a more exact knowledge of the rise, extension, and
subsidence of epidemics, and to the adoption of a more
effectual method for their limitation and prevention.
The unit of infection is a microscopic particle or microbe
endowed with specific properties; it has the power, when
deposited in a suitable soil and under favourable conditions,
of multiplication to an indefinite extent; hence, when
implanted in the blood of a human being, in virtue of this
power, it proliferates, and invades the fluids even to the
finest capillary networks, and like the yeast in the baker's
dough, leavens the whole.