Morris tribune., 1885-11-25
GERMS OF DISEASE.

GERMS OF DISEASE.
Life in this world is, as it were, q
balancing or secsaw between different
organisms, in which each helps the
rest-a cycle of actions which are to q
certain extent dependent on each other.
The molecules of the grain OF wheat
in part help to construct the muscle
cells in mans arm, and in part fur
niSh fuel or motive power to these cells,
while the eNcreted products OF these
cells in the form of carbonic acid,
urea, etc, and finally the products Of
the decomposition of these cells. may
90 to construct new gram of wheat.
But to enable the vegetable to make
use of the animal cell rs food, the lat
ter must be split up into simpler COM
bnations, 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 one carries mil
lions 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, or
micrococci and bacteria, which are not
so innocent and harmless, but which,
on the contrary, produce disease and
death in many of those to whose sys-
TENS they gain admittance.
Some of these disease germs multiply
only within the bodies of living ami
mails, as, for instance, those which give
rise to smallpox and scarlet fever; they
retain their vitality for a time when
thrown off in cXcrctions; but they do
not increase in number until they gain
access to living tissues, and hence the
diseases which they cause are propa-
gated by contagion only. Other dis
case 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
poisoning him with their products, as
common yeast may be said to be the
cause of delirium tremens through the
agency of the alcohol which it pro-
duces. Malaria is 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 cXcreta. 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 rs to whether they are dis
tinct 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, producing
evil instead of good.
What we know is that very minute
quantity of eXcreta from case of
cholera or of typhoid fever may, when
introduced into the alimentary canal of
a healthy person, produce in that per
son disease similar to the one from
which the germ originally came; and
we also have good reason to believe
that if few such germs fall into a
mass of eXcreta, as in & cess-pool, they
may under certain conditions multiply
very rapidly and render the whole
mass of filth infectious, SO that any
portion of it will be capable of convey
ing 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 re-
tanning or storing in the vicinity of hui
man habitations quantities of organic
matter suitable for the nourishment of
such organisms, for the channels
through which such collections may be-
come dangerously inoculated are so
numerous and, 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 Il source of danger
in this way, but also through the pro-
ducts of its decomposition. The most
important of these in this connection
are the gases and effiuvia evolved in
putrefaction, such as hydrogen sui
phide, ammonium sulphide, carbon
dioxide, and certain organic vapors of
very complex constitutions, chiefly
characterized by unpleasant odors.
When concentrated, as in old cess
pools or vaults, these may produce suf-
location 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 be-
ing breathed, and the effects are less
marked.
Constant exposure to such air i'm
pairs health gradually, but distinctly,
especially in infants and children, the
symptoms produced being loss of appe-
tite, languor, slight headache, ETC.
j. s. Billings, NJ. d., IN Harper's Mag
Gzi7ae for September.