New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-04-08
SCLENTLELC DEEAMITION.

| Tho nicrobo has been tho innocent victim OF
| scicntifc defamation. IL has been described as
| stealthy assassin at war with human hfe-mans
deadliest If minutest foe DR.. Koch pronounced 1t
the active agent OF death in that modern scourSe
| consump ion and gave to 1t the terrible name oil
tubercular bacillus In the centre OF the tuberce
.eil he located tho microscopic organism that had
| created it, and announced that pulmonary con-
sumption and cognato diseases Of the liver, kidney
and intestnes were caused by the presence in the
blood of living parasites. DR.. FREEZE, pursuing
similar investigations in Brazil, recognized in the
blood of yellow fever patients millions OF foil
destroyers appearing under tho microscope as
minute points or cells with fringed margins and
transparent centres. This organism was called the
cryptoooccus zanthogenicus. The great french
Investigator NJ. Pasteur. having previously demon
strated tho parasitic character OF sheep and cattle
diseases. indicted the mcrobo as the murderous
agent in hydrophoba, and proceeded to enmesh IL
in web OF circumstantial evidence Dr. Noon
with his strong hand upon tho neck OF his rodlike
bacillus suddenly relaxed his grip and set out Tor
Egypt and India to brand the microbe as the secret
assassin in Asa.ic cholera.
In this way the dcfamers of this microscopic
being have pursued their relentless warfare upon
character until there Is scarcely an Ill to which
oesb IL heir that has not been accounted for by the
oerm theory So persistent and malicious has been
the persecution that the solemn words, In the
midst Of life we are DEATH" have been interpreted
as meaning that the mcrobe is everywhere. And
now there are evidences In the confessions OF the
uicroscopist that the microbe instead of being the
active agent OF every pestilence and fever 10 o
very useful member of society. NJ Pasteur mas
been frank enough to admit that tho changes IN
yolved In the life processes OF both plants ana
animals. and of man as well. are intimately asso-
-. a. ia mi anna
Acting upon this theory scientific Investigators are
now experimenting with peas and beans 10 ascer-
tain whether there be vegetable life without
the aid of the mcrobe; and also whether chickens
can be Matched from the egg in sterllized space,
fed with sterilzed food and supplied with sterlized
air and yet live and thrive. Having begun by
assuming that death is impossible without the
presence and activity OF tho rodshaped parasite or
those "mysterious granulations aggregated In
yellowsh matrix." the scientific calurnnators conf
plete the vicious circle of their reasoning by
conceding that there cannot be life without the
benevolent operations of the microbe
Whoe-s0uled investigators like the Rev. w. HI.
Dollingcr are doing something to conclate the just
resentment of those cruelty maligned little Great
uros In his lectures before the British Association
he has not only described the important function
performed by them in breaking mp organic matter
after death and converting the elements into life
giving food supplies, but he has also referred to
their transcendent beauty, their graceful motions
and their generally cntrancng loveliness. Science,
scornIng these poetic flights, keeps within tho
limits of homey prose and comedies to them good
reputation as the most efficient scavengers of the
earth who make business Of transferring oxygen
to substances to be destroyed aud thus converting
what is useless into what is lifegiving. But the
more malignant germ-huntcrs arc still unprepared
to vindicate a reputation that has been 80 foully
assaed. They are unwilling to retract their
charges against the bacillus and tho cryptococcus
The most that they will say is that the microbe
world is divided between the sheep and the goats;
and that while there may DO occasional picrobo
who both means and does well, murder and death
are their chief diversions.