A. Wernich

“ The idea is logically deducible from this theory that the germs of disease finally produce their own destruction by the operation of their growth and development, and helps us to comprehend the cyclical course which is characteristic of most infectious diseases. ”

“ They also give a strong air of plausibility to the theory that the bacteria produce, through the chemical changes of which they are the direct cause, the most effective substances that can be used to destroy them. ”

“ The more acid the reaction, the less is the degree of heat that is required. The degree of heat required to destroy the germs of infectious diseases is believed to be greater than it is practicable to apply by the dry process to clothing and similar materials. The capacity of many of the organisms to reproduce may, indeed, be destroyed by a more moderate temperature, but a question remains concerning the germs or spores which had been taken up into the materials and were carried away with them. ”

“ If we add the substances we have been examining to a saccharine solution exposed to fermentation, a slackening of the fermenting process will take place, and the different substances will, as before, exhibit their power to delay the process in the following order: scatol, hydrocinnamic acid, indol, phenylacetic acid, kresol, carbolic acid. ”

“ Particular investigators have doubted whether it is possible wholly to destroy these lower organisms. Naegeli [1] says it can not be fully done without the aid of heat, and even heat is not always equally effective. They are generally more easily destroyed by heat when moist than when dry, but even a boiling heat will not destroy some of them when they are in fluids of a neutral reaction. ”

“ A great dilution of the supporting fluid by the infusion of pure water will in a short time produce a suspension of the process of decomposition. Privation of light has no effect. The operation of electricity has not been enough observed to justify the drawing of any conclusion. The effect of the privation of air has not been fully determined. It was once thought that the development of bacteria could be hindered by the removal of oxygen, but this is doubtful. Oxygen greatly speeds the development, but it can take place without it. ”

“ These are believed to have some kind of a coating which enables them to resist what destroys the parent organisms.
In order to test the value of the dry process as applied to infected clothing, pieces of different clothing materials were impregnated with strong putrefying and bacteria-bearing fluids, then dried slowly, and kept for a long time without protection against external influences. Whenever the smallest piece of one of these materials was put into a suitable fluid, the perturbation invariably took place which is the sure sign of the active multiplication of bacteria. ”