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It is not that I would add anything new to the already voluminous literature on bacteriology, that I call your attention to the germ-theory of disease, but from a keen realization of the fact that so intimately interwoven with current medical and scientific literature are such terms as: bacteria, incubator, desicator, serum-media, culture-media, antisepsis, asepsis, listerism and serial-cultivation, and such prodigious proportions has the new theory already attained during the past decade, that, when we consider the overwhelming evidence, both direct and circumstantial, in favor of the new theory, we are compelled, if we would read intelligently, to bring order out of chaos, and at least gain a well-formulated idea of what is and what is not the germtheory, and what does and what does not constitute modern antiseptic treatment, medical, surgical, obstetrical and gynæcological.
The greatness of the theory demands our attention and solicits our calm and unbiased judgement.