The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1889-04-20
IMAGINARY PERILS.
A Few Words About Persons Who Seek
q Notoriety by Magnifying Trifies.


Notoristy by Magnifying Trifies.
The person who, as a scientist or
Spectator in theories, is engaged in
periodically trying to brighten people
out of their wits by giving publicity
to possible perils to health and life, is
a very uncomfortable and disturbing
member of the human family, and we
can not but question the genuineness
of his pretensions to scientific or ra-
tional soundness The latest instance
of the periodical alarms sounded by
this class of individuals is that of the
attempt TO get up panic against the
useful and Indispensable postage
stamp, which is accused of being an
agent by which contagious diseases
are spread. The alarmist gravely tells
us that the person inclosing within a
letter a postage-stamp for a reply usu-
ally applies his tongue or his lips to
one corner of its adhesive side, and
then, if he happens to have disease
germs in his saliva, may unconsciously
communicate a contagious ailment to
the receiver of the epistle, who, when
fastening the stamp on the outside of
the reply, applies the tongue or his
lips to the adhesive side which his cor
respondent had partly moistened in
like manner. Doubtless the cleanliest
and the best way to moisten the ad-
hesive parts of postage-stamps or en-
velopes, or to irritate the point of
lead pencil, is to use wet sponge for
the purpose, instead of the mouth; but
that is more matter of neatness than
of hygienic precaution, for if every
body who ticks his postage
stamps or his envelopes when
ever he mails letter should
run the risk of absorbing disease
germs, the probability is that about
ninety-nine persons in every hundred
of letter-writers would be in jeopardy.
They all do it," and always will.
Wet sponges are not always at hand
when persons prepare their letter for
the mail, and most persons would not
bethink themselves to use them if they
were.
But why try to brighten people by
magnifying dangers? The person APP
plying his tongue to a postage-stsmp
runs no more risk of catching con-
tagious disease than he does of being
crushed to death under falling sgall
while passing along the street. A wall
falls occasionally, but very few people
come to their death by falling walls.
So with postage-stamps; a hundred
thousand or more of them are moist
ened with the tongues OF men, women
and children every day, yet probably
not one case of disease resulting there
from occurs in year or in dozen
years. We are in more daily peril
from lightning, earthquake and storm
than from postage-stamps Somebody
not long ago tried to brighten the pub
lie out of its senses by declaring that
the money of the country -papeFmoney
and coin-passing from hand to hand
daily and hourly, is a distributor of
contagious diseases, but we have not
learned that any body has scared
worth cent" or become any less eager,
TO get hold of the circulating medium.
The truth is, there are very many
possibilities of accident, disease and
death all around US and continually
threatening ues, but there is no use of
getting frightened-no sense of work
ing ourselves into state of trepida-
ton and misery every hour in the day,
or Of keeping ourselves in state OF
fidgets all the days of our lives, on
that account. We have to run risks
very often or we will become mere no.
bodgs and nothing. "Nothing vent
ured, nothing gained" is proverb
that is as old as human progress and
as sensible as it is old. The people
WHIP are continually afraid of posi-
sbleI eventualities of adisastrous kind
are very miserable creatures, and those
others who are continually setting up
sea re-crows, fnventing spooks or con,
codting imaginary ills to humanity are
worse than were "Job's comforters."
They might be in better business.