the mechanism of defence against the organisms of disease.'

"In so far as these conclusions rest on a series of exact
experiments we are justified in accepting them as being a most
valuable contribution to the question; where there is no
experimental basis, we must exercise our own judgment. To show
the very strong impression that exists that there is some
connection between severe cases of pneumonia and alcohol I may
mention that the other day I heard a gentleman (not a medical
man) say, 'It is well known that most men (of a certain
profession) die from alcoholism.' When asked to explain he said,
'They all die from cirrhosis or pneumonia, and if those
conditions are not due to alcoholism, what is?'

"There can be no doubt that in addition to its specific action,
alcohol has a general action--the mal-nutrition, which is
usually associated with the use of alcohol, especially as a
result of its action on the mucous membranes of the stomach,
etc."

That the "guardian cells" of the body play a part in a considerable
number of diseases was illustrated by Dr. Woodhead by drawings and
photographs, shown on the lantern screen. The photographs included cells
containing anthrax, typhoid and tubercle bacilli, the spirilla of
relapsing fever, specimens from cases of anthrax. Specimens were shown
in which the cells were actually ingesting and digesting the specific
micro-organisms. In a case of typhoid, showing large masses of typhoid
bacilli in one of Peyer's patches, there were seen certain of the cells
which contained the typhoid bacilli, some of them undergoing
degenerative changes, and showing unequal standing.

Of the researches made by Dr. Abbott referred to in the foregoing
lecture Dr. N. S. Davis says:--

"Thus we have another and direct positive demonstration of the
fact that the presence of alcohol in living bodies not only
impairs all the physiological processes, but also impairs their
vital resistance to the effects of all other poisons. It was
hardly necessary, however, to trouble the rabbits to obtain
proof of this; for such evidence may be found in abundance by
examining the vital statistics of every civilized country. The
late Frank H. Hamilton, in his valuable work on military
hygiene, gives an interesting account of an experiment executed,
not on a few rabbits, but on whole regiments of human beings,