" Germ-Eater "

European bacteriologists have been aware for some years of the important researches of Dr. F. d'Herelle, of the Pasteur Institute, Paris, but it was not until an English translation of his book* was recently published that American medical men became aroused to its significance.

It is well known to miscroscopists that bacteria are sometimes destroyed--apparently dissolved--in the blood stream. The process is called " autolysis" and the unknown causal agent a " lysin." D'Herelle's theory is simply that this lytic agent is an ultra -microscopic organism which preys upon the visible bacteria by the secretion of a powerful virus. He calls it the "bacteriophage" or "germ-eater." He conducted a series of investigations in various parts of the world and found evidence that the bacteriophage is present in the case of such diseases as typhoid, paratyphoid, dysentery, bubonic plague and barbone (a malady which attacks the East Indian buffalo).

When a disease-producing microbe is introduced into the body, one of two things may happen: 1) the bacteriophage attacks the bacterium, destroys it before it can develop, and disease does not appear; 2) the bacteriophage remains inactive or the bacterium becomes resistant, and disease results.

Although many bacteriologists are taking d'Herelle's discoveries and somewhat dogmatic theories with a grain of salt, there is a general disposition to recognize their potential importance for preventive medicine, and further developments of far-reaching value are looked for.

*THE BACTERIOPHAGE : ITS ROLE IN IMMUNITY--P. d'Herelle, translated by G. H. Smith.--Williams and Wttkins, Baltimore.