The Irish standard., 1891-01-24
THE BACTERIA FAD.
science Gone Mad in the Hands of Enthu-

science Zone Mao In the HAMS Oh fLnCnu.
siasts.
These doctors are wearisome lot,
observes the Milwaukee Sentinel. If
the world were foolish enough to at
tempt to follow all their suggestions
and to avoid all that hygienic cranks
declare to be dangerous, living would
be impossible except under conditions
that would make living intolerable.
The latest fad, next to the disposition
Of surgeons to extirpate all the impor-
tant organs of the body, is to find
bacteria everywhere, and to warn
people against doing, for fear Of bac-
terra, what it is necessary to do in order
to get along at all. A Buffalo doc
tor has found nothing better to oc-
,upy his time or no better way to adj
vertise himself than to examine under
the microscope the straps in the street
cars by which unhappy wretches main
tain an upright position when the cars
are crowded. He finds these straps
''fairly reeking with bacteria This
is strange use of the word reek. We
might as well speak of the atmosphere
as reeking with birds. Ree]zing means
steaming or smoking. Bacteria have
just as much right to be everywhere as
birds and butterflies have to fly in the
air, and they are for the most part as
harmless. The idea the doctors seek to
convey is that where there is micro
scopic life there is danger to health. If
there is a space on earth where micro
scopic life does not exist, man can not
exist on that spot. The air we breathe,
the water we drink, is full of harmless
animalculae, and would not be life-sus-
tanning otherwise.
We are warned against sneezing, ex-
cept into q bactcrium receiver, for fear
Of letting loose into the air destructive
bacteria to attack the nasal membranes
Of other folks. We are warned against
receiving money-hard money or paper
moley-without first putting it through
a disinfocting process. We are told to
90 through tho world with strainer
ovcr the nose and the mouth, with car
},olized gloves, and 50 c:l. In short, if
we arc to stand any show of living to IL
reasonable age VIC arc to shut ourselves
up in gauze saturated with disinfccting
preparations, drink distilled water, alb
stain from every thing VIC like, and have
no other concern in the world than the
care of health.
There arc certain reasonable sanitary
rules based on IL few fats Of obscrva-
ton that are worthy Of serious attcn-
ton. They arc not attended to ordi-
narily, because hygiene cram ks urge SO
many ridiculous and impossible rules
and SO constantly shock the common
sense of mankind. TO ask q rational
being to refrain from grasping q friends
hand for fear Of bacteria, to deny him
self the pleasure of OSCILLATION, and all
that, is too much. If these doctors per-
sist in pointing out microscopic life
wherever they find it the thing is to rec
ognize the fact that microscopic life is
edible and wholesome-raw, fried,
stewed, baked or in any other form.
We arc made up-all Of us and in every
part of us--of microscopic organisms
A man is simply collection of such or
ganisms, every minute particle Of his
being having an Independent life There
is nothing to be frightened at. Bacteria
have been in the world a good while,
and enough people have managed to
live to make it Il pretty active world.