The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-02-14

Is explained by Tue uleory winch aScflDcS
It 10 the lingering Of germs about the in.
GectCd place. Surgeons have long known
the danger Of admitting air 10 an opened
absceSs, and assesses are always opened
by IN instrument which carefully ex-
cludes the air from contact with the
wound. Tho instrument should, Of course,
be sCrlIpulOuSIy clean; but 1t can be made
perfectly clean in IN atmosphere Of dust
only by being made rs hot us It's temper
will bear. This is not done, and therefore
inflammation often sets in after the first
operation; rapid putreiaction accompa.
nies it, and the plls, which ut first showed
no traces of animal life, il now found to
be full of active little organisms called
vibriOs. Professor Lister, from whose let
ter this fact Is derived, contends that this
astounding development Of animal life Is
due to the entry Of germs into the absccSs
during the first operation, and their sub
sequent development by favorable circun.
stances. Hay fever Is another case In
point.
The celebrated physiologist HelmboItz
suffers from the Goth Of May till tho end
of June from Il catarrh Of the upper mir
passages, and he llas found that during
this period, and ut no other, this nasal g.
crctiOns are peopled by these vibri0s.
They nestle III the Cavitics Of the nose,
and Il sneezc Is necessary 10 dislOdge them.
These arc uncomfortable statements, but
il the gcrmthUOry is. found TO bG true, II
will give dGtlnitcnCSs to our efforts to
stamp out disease; and 1t Is only by some
definite efforts under It's guidance that It's
truth or falsCllOOd, Gun DO established.
Hence DIR. Tyndall says he reads with
sympathy such papers US those Of DR..
Budd, of Bristol, on cholera, scarlet fever
and smallpox. DR.. Budd's Imagination
may occasionally tempt him 10 flight
beyond his facts, but without this dynamic
heat of heart the solid inertia Of the
BritOn can never be overcome. As long
MS heat C,In warm the truth without SINCE
ing it much, rs long us enthusiasm Can
ovcrmatch its mistakes by uncquivOCal eX-
amples Of success, 80 long" said Dr.
Tyndull, II AM disposed to give II u fair
field to work in, and 10 wish it God
speed"
CONCLUSIONS.
Returning to the dust, DR.. Tyndall drew
certain practical conclusions from the sur.
vcy Of these two classes Of facts, The
dust cannot bC blown away by ordinary
bellows, since the air they send out Is
equally full Of the particles. But fill the
nozzle with cotton wool, not too tightly
pressed, and the mir is filtered, and being
then blown across the beam Of light, forms
u clean band of darkness, like tho mir
from the heated platinum wire. This was
the filter Schroeder used in his expert.
mentS on spontaneous generation; il was
also turned to account in the excellent re-
searches Of Pastcur. Since 1868 Profes.
sOr Tyndall llas constantly employed Il
himself. rIa Vi. rau
The most interesting of all illustrations
Of this tlltering process Is furnished blythe
human breath. Fill tho lungs with or.
binary mir and breathe through n warm
tube-warmcd TO prevent the COndCnsA.
lion Of the watcry particleS-acrOSs the
beam Of light which is revealing the dust
particles In the air. The particles. move
with the moving air, but the current from
the lungs shows at first rs many particles
us the ordinary atmosphere. Gradually,
however, the particles clear away from the
course Of the breath, and by the time you
have completed your expiration, the OK.
pred air cuts sharp black line through
the notes in the sunbeam. Tho air has
lcl It's dirt in the lungs, and the last por-
lions Of the expired breath arc FREQ from
floating dust. But empty the lungs as far
us possible, and then inhalc deep breath
through n handful OF cottonwood, and on
expiring this air in the same way 1t cuts o
black line In the sunbeam at once. Place
tho tube below the beam and blow up.
wards, and the air rises through tic
dancing particles like black smoke, just
Os 1t did from tho heated surfACes on
which the dust was burned. Tho cotton
wool has completely intercepted the float
ing matter on Its way to the lungs, and,
rs no dust was inhaled, none Il exhalel.
Here, then, is the philosophy Of an in.
stinctivC habit Of medical men. In u con-
tagious atmosphere the physician puts his
handkerchief TO his mouth, aud inhRlcs
through ii; in so doing he sweeps back
tho floating germs. II the poison were q
gas, 1t could not DO thus intercepted. Dr.
Bcncc Jones repeated DR.. TyndAll's OK.
pertinent with a silk handkerchief with n
similar hut less marked result. Cotton
wool is, in fact, the best and surcst filter,
and physician who wants 70 hold back
from the lungs Of his patient, or from his
own lungs, the germs BY which contagious
disease Is said 10 be pFopagatcd will en-
plOy cottonwood rcSpirator, "Atler the
revelations Of this evening" concluded DR..
Tyndell, such rcspirators must, think,
come into general use rs q defense against
ContNgioN, In the crowded dwellings Of
the London poor, where the isolation Of
the sick Is difficult, II not impossible, the
noXious air around tho patient may by this
simple means be restored to practical
purity. Thus filtered attendants may
breathe the air unframed In all prObG.
hility the protection Of the lungs will be
the protection Of the entire system For
il is exceedingly probable that the germs
which lodge In the Nir.pasSagcs, and
which, ut their leisure, can work their way
across the mucous membrane, arc those
which SOW IN the body epidemic disease.
II this be 80. then disease can certainly be
warilCd oil by filters Of cotton wool.
should he most willing TO test their ell.
CaCy in my own person; and time will
decide whether IN lung diseases also tho
wooden rCspirator cannot abAte irritation,
irnot arrest decay. BY It's means, so far
MS the germs are concerned, the air Of the
highest Alps may be brought into tho