The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1892-10-26
ASIATlC CHOLERA GERMS
THEY LOOK LIKE THE COMMAS
USED IN PRINT.
A Physician who Has Some of the
Tiny Germs Furnishes a Descrip-
tion of Them.


tion of Them.
HR. sILAs MoUsER, of San
Francisco, has been entertain
ing a newspaper reporter with
& view OF the wonderful lab j..
oratory wherein he is said to cultivate
disease germs after the manner of DR..
Koch. From the reporters interview
we quote as follows:
"The cholera germ" said DR.. Mouser,
"cannot only survive cold, but the dis
ease has ragged in Russia during the
depths of winter. Dry heat kills the
germ. 1t is well to remember this. No
substance subjected to 100 degrees cent?
grade will shelter even such tenacious
life as the comma bacillus possesses. LIE
me show you"
DIR. Mouser escorted his visitor down
stairs, across rear yard to a plain frame
structure, which he opened. "This is
my laboratory" he explained. He took
from a shelf a tiny tin tray that held up
right an array of glass tubes. Each tube
contained a gelatine-like substance, fill
ing about quarter Of the space, and
each tube was corked by wad of cot
ton. There was death in almost any one
OF them. The gelatine was covered by
scum, or partly covered by a splotch
that had not spread over the entire sur
face. This indefinite scum is made up
in every instance of germs of some NAL
ady. Here is the very essence of fever,
of phthisis; here are atoms which, in
troduced into the purest blood, would
turn it to corruption and clog the arter-
les of life. And here, innocent to the
eyes, is the common bacillus, the inhab-
liant of India, that at irregular intervals
finds its way abroad and scourges the
world.
Cholera in bottle, and the cork cot
ton
1t may console the timid reader to
know that the germs are dead. DR..
Mouser experimental with them until
he had ascertained all he desired to
know about them, and then turned his
attention in other directions. The poor
germs, neglected, subjected to uuseemly
temperatures, allowed no filth upon
which to thrive, gave up their several
ghosts, and ell that the tube now con-
tains is their inanimate remains.
To the naked eye the comma conveys
no impression, being individually invis-
ible. Magnifed 700 times it assumes
the size of the ordinary comma used in
newspaper print, and glance at its
image shows why it is known by its
peculiar title.
One naturally handles the tubes with
some care, as splinter of glass convey
ing into chance wound speck of the
virus would, in regard to most of the
specimens on the day, be fatal.
The malignity of the comma bacillus
has been shown in experiments. A small
animal inoculated with it dies in short
time in all the agony of cholera, and is
so charged with the germs that inocula-
tion from the first victom to a second is
as certain and speedy in its fatal results.
A man so treated would have no more
hope of surviving than the guinea pig,
VINO is usually chosen as a subject for
the trial. A pin thrust into the pig and
then into man would kill the man. And
yet the actual germ has not been found
in the muscular tissues or in the blood.
1t concentrates its malign force along the
alimentary canal aud in the intestinal
membranes. Silence has been studying
it for several years. In a general way
science has determined its actual deriva-
tion and its effect-it kills. But lust
how, just why, science, led by the great
Koch, cannot tell. The theory is that it
sets up poison. Even this theory is
denied in some quarters, and opponents
of Koch assert that the comma bacillus
is only such during a siege of its develop
ment, and other germs are also present
in cholera. But Koch's doctrine is
standing the test, and thoughtful and
learned men are glad to learn of him.
DIR. Mouser is such a man. "Koch,"
said he, holding tube with a carmine
coating over its deposit of gelatine up
to the light, "K0ch is the greatest man
in this line in the world. Next after
him comes Sternberg, an American, now
in Brooklyn. Stcrnberg, by the way,
sent me this tube. He thought he had
found the yclow-fever germ, but he
hadn't. Nobody has. Sternberg has
beea hunting this germ ten years, going
as far as Cuba and South America.
The doctor displayed the delicate ap-
paratus with which the laboratory
abounds, There are ovens for dry heat,
used TO steriIize the tubes and cotton.
Other ovens are for the purpose Of main
tanning a temperature at which the
germs develop.
"Since Koch discovered the comma
bacillus has any specific been designed |
to meet it'" asked the reporter,
"There is no specific, OF course we |
are enabled to meet the disease in more |
intelligent manner" the doctor replied, |
"What would you advise person
discovering symptoms of cholera in him.
self to dol What should he take9"
The germ experimenter smiled rather
grimly. 81 would advise him to con-
suit a doctor without losing time" he
replied, "the best one he knows."