This word, therefore, is the
one best suited to designate this specific ferment in question, and I have
on this account, employed it and its adjectival derivatives in order not
to resuscitate the idea of the exclusively paludal origin of the morbific
agent.
I shall not tarry long to speak of the nature of this ferment, for the
studies bearing upon that point, although far advanced, are not yet
completed. I may remark, however, that the idea that the ferment is formed
of living organisms is a very old one, and has not arisen suddenly because
of the modern theories of the parasitic nature of disease. From the time
of Varrar (who believed that malaria was made up of invisible mites
suspended in the atmosphere) to our own day this theory has been several
times advanced by hygienists. Independently of the general considerations
which led Rasori, and later Henle, to formulate the doctrine of the
_contagium vivum_ of infection (long before the progress of microscopical
science had revealed the existence of living ferments), there were
peculiar circumstances as regards malaria which should have impelled minds
to look in that direction, even in times long past.
Some of these circumstances are of a nature to strike every serious
observer, and deserve a few moments' attention.
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