Virus

(virūs.) (L., a poisonous liquid.] (Med.) A principle, unknown in its nature and in appreciable by the senses, which is the agent for the transmi ion of infections diseases. Thus we speak of the variolic, the vaccine, and the syphilitic viruses. V. differs from venom in the latter being a secretion natural to certain animals, while the former is always the result of a morbid Fig. proce . [s. 941]