Excerpt from Disease Germs, Their Nature and Origin It seems to me probable that the subtle poison originated and multiplied in man's own body, or in the bodies of some of the animals domesticated by man. I consider that it has been derived by un interrupted descent from the bioplasm or living matter of an organism which at an antecedent period may have been perfectly healthy. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.