The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1885-04-24
TINY WORMS IN Drink.
A French Physician who Thinks a
Hi Causes Drunkenness.
Pittsburg letter to Phila. News.

way to Chicago. DIR. Sax is at present
making a tom of the principal cities Of the
United States. 4 reporter met him through
a mutual medical friend. DR.. Sax is a man
with a hobby, as the reporter soon ascer-
tanned, and as it is one of a decidedly novel
character, he interviewed this learned for
eigner 10 some extent thereon. DR.. Sax in
substance thus describes his recent discoy-
cry in the domain of infusorial life.
"Some years ago l conceived the idea
that all substances containing alcohol in
decided quantities were ~iinpregnated with
bacteria, or minute forms of parasite life.
had been making a close study of bacte-
ria, and was at one time associated with
NJ. Pasteur, of Paris. in a series of expert
ments in this field of research. Pasteur's
Investigations to show that the foundations
Of disease in animals originated from bac-
terra are world renowned. As a result of
some thought ! became imbued with the
conviction that there might be some con-
nection between these bacteria, if they ex-
isted, and the symptoms produced by the
CA\ISSlfG ASC VI ditOEOi. i uTeul1E Jll5
line of thought | made a careful study of
alcohol with the aid of the microscope, and
by means of an elaborate staining appara-
tus, discovered a bacillus, now known in
France as bacillus potumania. The
next step | took was in the direction of
culture, and | eventually succeeded in iso-
lating this bacillus, and, with the ordinary
culture apparatus, ! was able to reproduce
them at my leisure. l observed this pccu-
liarity. however, that, contrary to the us
ual results of such culture. the bacillus po-
tumania became more vigorous in
stead of weaker. | then became fully
convinced that all of the symptoms
observable in violent cases of delirium
tremens and in ordinary cases of alcohol
ism could be distinctly traced to the action
of this bacillus on the human organism"
But how does this parasite produce
these symptoms" qneried the perpIexed
newspaper man.
We'll. continued the doctor, you see
this bacillus is taken into the body in the
alcohol contained in brandy, whisky and
other drinks of that character, and passing
into the stomach are there absorbed into
the blood. When they once get into the
vital stream they thrive greatly and are
conveyed to every tissue in the body. In
ordinary cases, where alcohol is only used
moderately, the bacillus are present in
such minute numbers that no apparently
perceptible effects are produced. BY pro-
longed use of liquors containing appreci-
able quantities of alcohol the number of
these minute parasites is greatly increased
in the blood. One of the first effects of
these parasites being diffused through the
gray matter of the brain, is an impeachment
in the locomotion by irritating the nerve
centres governing locomotion. Going up
ward from these primary centres the high
er nerve centres are next involved. and YER
tigo, intense mental excitement, disorder
ed vision-the sense of seeing double-and
in some cases stupor are caused by this in
siduous parasite in its peregrinations, ulti-
mately reducing the subject to what you
Americans call a state of dead drunkenness.
''The effect upon the brain of the pro-
longed use of alcohol is to produce through
these bacilli the symptoms of delirium tire
mems, in which state, it is well known,
those afflicted are subject to hallucina-
tions of all descriptions, chiefly those, how
ever, of seeing disgusting things of a creep
ing, crawling kind. These are undoubted-
ly occasioned by the intense impression
produced upon those sensitive cells of the
brain, the irritation of which, under the
natural circumstances, would give rise to
these mental pictures.
by the use of culture glasses / nave
found that the bacillus potumani@ can be
brought to a high state of perfection, SO
that it is now possible, if one were so dis
posed, to produce, say by the injection into
a vein of your arm of a few bacilli potum-
ani@, in an incredibly short space of time,
all of the delightful as well as the after
disagreeable effects of a prolonged drunk,
without the necessity of gorging the sys-
TEN with vast amounts of alcohol in the
form of bad whisky. Should this fancy of
carrying about culture glasses become a
popular one, it would interfere, | am in
clined to think, with the profits of the
keepers of cafes. | am now engaged in
collecting data for a series of experiments.
in which | will engage on my return to
Europe to discover an effective germiclde
with which to combat and destroy this
bacilli in advanced cases of alcoholism