The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1885-09-11
GERMS OE DISEASE.
The Different Methods of Their Multip
cation.

II
Life in this world is, as it were, a
balancing seesaw between different or
ganisms, in which each helps the rest
"a cycle of actions which are to q GER
tain extent dependent on each other.
The molecules of the grain of wheat
in part help to construct the muscle
cells in q mans arm, and in part fur
nish fuel for motive power to these
cells, while the excreted products of
these cells in the form of carbonic acid,
urea, ETC., and finally the products of
decomposition of these cells, may go
to construct a new grain of wheat.
But to enable the vegetable to mako
use of the animal cell as food, the lat
ter must be split up into simpler combi-
nations, and this is effected by micro
organisms of various kinds. The great
majority of these minute beings are
harmless to man so long as they are
confined to his skin and alimentary
canal; in fact, every Que carries millions
of them on and within himself, and it
is doubtful whether he could properly
digest his food without their help.
There are, however, some forms of
these little granules and rods, OF micro
cocci and bacteria, which are not so in
nocent and harmless, but which, on the
contrary, produce disease and death in
many of those to whose systems they
gain admittance.
Some of these disease germs multiply
only within the bodies Of living animals,
so, for instance, these which give rise
to smallpox and scarlet fever; they re-
tain their vitality for time when thrown
off in excretions; but they do not in
crease in number until they gain .ac-
cess to living tissues, and hence the dis
eases which they cause are propagated
by contagion only. Other disease
germs multiply, so far as we know,
almost exclusively outside the living
body, and produce their effects on man
not by growing within him, but by poi
soning him with their products, as COM
mon yeast may be said to be the cause of
delirium tremens through the agency
of the alcohol which it produces Ma,
laria is q type of this class.
A third kind multiply both within and
without the living body, and some of
these appear to especially multiply and
flourish in human excreta AS yet we
know very little of the life history of
these disease germs, or as to how they
produce their effects; we are not even
certain as to whether they are distinct
separate species or whether they may
not be some of the common micro
organisms which by overlooking or
otherwise have become abnormal, mi
croscopic monsters as it were, produc-
ing evil instead of good.
What we do know is that very mi
mute quantity of excreta from case of
cholera or typhoid fever may, when
introduced into the alimentary canal
OF healthy person, produce, in that
person disease similar to the one from
which the germ originally came;
and we also have good reason to be-
lieve that if a few such germs fall into
a mass of excreta, as in a cess-pool,
they may under certain conditions
multiply very rapidly and render the
whole mass of filth infectious, so that
any portion of t will be capable of
conveying the disease.
Their action is closely analogous to
that of yeast, and the diseases which
are supposed to be due to such action
are known as the zymotic or ferment
diseases.
Hence comes one great danger of
retaining or storing in the vicinity of
human habitations quantities of organic
matter suitable for the nourishment of
such organisms, for the channels
through which such collections may
become dangerously inoculated are
so numerous aud. in the present state of
our knowledge so impossible to guard
against, that casks of powder or cases
of dynamite would be really safer
neighbors.
Sewage is not only a source of dan
ger in this way, but also through the
products of its decomposition. The
most important of these in this connec-
ton are the gases and effiuvia evolved
in putrefaction, such as hydrogen sui
phide, ammonium sulphide, carbon
dioXide, and certain organic vapors of
very complex constitution, chiefly char
acterized by unpleasant odors.
When concentrated, as in old cess
pools or vaults, these may produce
sufocation and almost immediate death,
or great prostration, violent vomiting
and purging, commissions and death in
from one to two days.
The circumstances are rare which
produce such effects as these; usually
the gases are greatly diluted before
being breathed, and the effects are less
| marked
Constant exposure to such air inn
pairs health gradually, but distinctly,
especially in infants and children, the
symptoms produced being loss of appe-
tite, languor, slight headaches, etc
]. S. Bitttags, ii. D., in Harper's Nag
azise.
Rabbits are such a pest in Buena
Vista Valley, New, that the farmers