Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-06-22
BACTERIA AND THEIR WORK.

We find in the Inter ocean an article
by Rene Bache, which gives in simple
language great deal of scientific IN
formation on an important subject We
could wish, however, that something
had been said upon the danger of in
fection by bacilli-laden dust In this
connection We refer the reader to a
short article on another page, under
the caption of "Street Sweeping
Gowns"
"Bacte ria are such little things
1000, ,0O0 of them can be found In a
single drop of sour milk-that it is
wonderful what big part they play in
the world.
Bacteria are vegetable, and under the
microscope they are found to be of
different kinds. Some are rod-shaped
and are called "bacilli meaning ''lit.le
rods"-on that account. Others
look like corkscrews, while others vet
have the form of balls There are thou
sands of species, and some of them, when
they get into peoples bodies, feed upon
the tissues and produce such diseases as
consumption, pneumonia, diphtheria,
scarlet fever, cholera, and carbUncle.
But 1t is only a few bad kinds of
bacteria that do such mischief. Most
of them are quite harmless, while some
Of them are so beneficial that the
world could not very well get along
without them. 1t is they who dispose
OF dead animal and refuse vegetable
matter by preying upon 1t and thus re-
ducing it to the useful elements of
which it was originally composed. The
process called ''rotting lis their work,
in fact. Different species make fer
mentation, raise all the bread, turn
wine or cider into vinegar, curdle
milk or produce an acid which renders
it sour, and give to butter its flavor.
1t is lucky that so few of them are in
furious, because they swarm every
where. The air is full of their inYis-
ible myriads
The harmless bacteria can be safely
eft to take care of themselves. 1t is
the bad ones which science is trying to
find out about, in order to discover
how they may be fought against sue
cessfully.
The easiest way to study bacteria Is
by breeding them in the laboratory,
and observing how they act under va
rious conditions. Beef soup, boiled
down to Jelly, suits them first-rate as
food; SO a small quantity of 1t is put
into glass bottle and corked- linen
the bottle containing the Jelly Is heated
until no life of any sort remains IN IT.
Next, the cork is taken out and the Jelly
is touched with particle of diseased
flesh taken from an animal which has
died of dlphtheria, say. OF course,
that diseased fragment is filed with
the bacteria which produced the COM
plant. Some of them are thus trans
ferred to the jelly and at cnce begin
feeding upon it, multiplying SO rapidly
that within twenty-four hours there are
hundreds of thousands of them IN the
bottle A single of them, If it got into
a cut in anybody's throat, would make
the person sick with diphtheria-
1t is the same way with other diseases
produced by these vegetable germs.
There Is particular species that causes
each one.
If the bacteria of consumption, tor
example, get a lodgment in the lungs,
they feed upon the tissues of those or
gsns and destroy the air r-cells of which
they are composed, multiplying con-
tinually and breaking down the paris
until the patient dies.
At the Army Medical Museum IN
Washington there is, on a shell, a
small case holding a dozen bottles
which contain, in the shape described,
an equal number of the most fatal dis
eases known to mankind. The phy-
sician in charge kindly offered to give
them all to the writer in half an hour.
The breeding of these bacteria is
only the first step in the study OF then
history. Having thus got quantity
of certain known species, the next
thing is to study and learn how they
do their disease-makIng work, and for
this purpose rats and guinea-pigs are
made to serve useful turn to medical
science. For the benefit of mankind
these unlucky little beasts are given all
sorts of horrible complaints by squirt
ing water containing the germs into
their bodies with syringe. From the
time they are made sick in this way tc
their death, or recovery, they are kept
In confinement and studied or else
they are killed and dissected.
Many of these seemingly cruel ex'
pernnents havs an object of much
greater importance to us than mere
study OF the lives and habits of dan
gerous bacteria.
1t has been found that these little
parasites, while feeding produce poi,
soEous substance. Each species thus
makes its own peculiar poison, which
can be got in pure state by the art oi
chemistry. Once obtained, the poison
can be diluted with water and squirted
with a syringe into the body of beast
or human being. Used in this way il
seems to have the marvellous effect OF
making the person or creature operated
upon safe from catching the disease.
Rabbits, after being thus treated OIL
inoculated with diphtheria poison, do
not take diphtheria when inoculated
with the bacteria OF that complaint. II
is the same with other diseases, the
poison of each producing immunity
from the trouble itself. Not only is