It is the
rapid multiplication of the germs which furnishes a _continuous_
irritation that enables them to have such a disastrous effect upon the
tissues of the animal. If the tissues had only the original dose of
microbes to deal with, the warfare between health and disease would be
less uncertain in outcome. Victory would usually be on the side of the
tissues and health. The immediate cause of the pathogenic influence is
probably the chemical excretions which are given out by these
microscopic organisms. All plants and animals require a certain number
of substances to be taken into their organisms for preservation of
their vital activities. After these substances have been utilized
there occurs a sort of excretion of other chemical products. It is
probably the excretions of many millions of micro-organisms,
circulating in the blood, which give rise to the disease
characteristic of the fungus with which the animal has been infected.
The condition called sapraemia, or septic intoxication, for example, is
undoubtedly due to the entrance of the excretory products of
putrefaction bacteria into the circulation. This can be proved by
injecting into an animal a small portion of these products obtained
from cultures of germs of putrefaction.
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