BACTERIOPHAGY AS A THERAPEUTIC AGENCY

The bacteriophage has been slow to gain acceptance as a possible agent in the warfare against infection. The theory of such a lytic principle has been sufficiently engrossing to enlist the interest of the writers of fiction; but fact and fancy may be more conflicting in everyday life than in the world of imaginative literature. A bacteriologist has recently remarked that a substance capable, even in extremely small quantities, of killing and dissolving the bacteria with which it comes in contact, and which at the same time is harmless to animal tissues, should have an immediate application to sterilization of body cavities in which bacteria are present. He hastened to add, however, that a bacteriophage race which will attack one strain of an organism will not necessarily attack another strain. Such specificity enhances the necessity of the use of selected products of high virulence for attacking the organism to be