it is full fledged, for otherwise the germ would be present in the
earlier formations, as well as the later, which, according to good
authority, is not the case. But that this parasite has a special
affinity for consumptive tissue there is no question, and that it
thrives therein with great rapidity, hastening retrogressive changes,
is also to be granted. But, as yet, this is all we are entitled to
believe.

We thus see that the lines of successful treatment must be both
constitutional and local; that the constitutional cannot be specific,
and the strictly local cannot be curative. The constitutional must be
of a negative and positive character, having regard to the support of
the healthy remnant, and which will require correction of any
deficiency whatsoever in order to remove the morbid constitutional
habit. The local will be cleansing of the affected organs from the
germs and morbid products.

The evident selective affinity of Koch's lymph for tuberculous tissue
may enable it, in certain cases, to effectually seal the arterial
capillaries about the affected parts, owing to the intense vaso-motor
disturbance produced. This would starve the germs, which, with the
tubercular matter, may be expectorated through the moisture and motion
of the lungs. In incipient cases the tubercles might be as readily
absorbed as catgut ligature, and the germs, if any, fall to phagocytic
prey. The Koch lymph is evidently not a poison to the germs, and
probably has no other action on the affected organs than that of an
irritant, having a selective affinity by virtue of the kinship with
its contents. This theory of its action is supported by our common
knowledge of the power of pyogenic agents to awaken old or slumbering
inflammations, and the fact that septic fevers, such as small-pox,