Johnson's blood-poison theory is one in which he affirms that the
absorption of the cholera poison results in a primary alteration of the
blood, and that in turn produces the characteristic phenomena of
cholera. This theory has had many supporters. Johnson claims a
period of incubation marked bf malaise, and considers the violent intes-
tinal action an effort on the part of the system to rid itself of the
iwison. His treatment is to administer purgatives to help the system
cleanse itself from the poison. Althougli Johnson still holds to this



254 Bureau of Clinical Medicine.
theory himself, it is rejected by the large majority of observers. His
strong arguments in favor of a primary blood poison are that the albuDii-
nons urine points to blood poisoning. " The foetus in utero has been
known to succumb to the poison, and characteristic discharges have
been found in its intestines." Macnamara and Simon both hold, how-
ever, that there are no symptoms in cholera which may not be
accounted for by considering it a primary bowel disease.
We next come to notice the theory of Ilisch, a Russian physician,
who thought that the choleraic discharges, when decomposed by exposnre
to the air, produced the infectious principle, but that It did not eman-
ate from the body of the patient directly. Whenever, by means' of
cold, dryness or disinfection the process of decomposition is arrested,
then the progress of the disease is prevented.
He states that the infectious principle may be conveyed by the air
and water, and by contact with the discharges. The observations of this
physician coincide in many respects with the opinions of some very
competent modem authorities, among whom we find Macnainara's
theory is very similar.
