Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-04-11

TARS EoUsEEEErING-AsSY limos ABorr
THE MINUTE ORGANISMS THAT PREPARE THE
WORLD FOR NEW LrFE-oRDISARY cLEAxIr-
MSS AND sASITARY CLEANLINESS.
Sanitary housekeeping is one OF the srbiects
H which the Sanitary League intends 10 DIFF
attenuation. The committee of ladies' in
i.rse o. this branch o; the work is arranging
-se means of public Instruction n series Of
-a..=eS % the teachers of pubic schools. The
'iici5-y lecture delivered Yesterday
.snooI in the hall of the Central High
'7i by pr. J. S. Billings. L. s. A. who is
man OF the sanitary committee OF the
-ue- DR. Billings had as interested auditors
.'..' al the teachers in the first six divisions
tHe city. As superintendent Powell an
noel III introducing the lecturer the sub
s: was Dirt Dr. Billings address. how
c-. was an interesting and informal talk
'.-'Ntel To popular understanding on bacteriei-
- lie showed the difference between clean
Aae-s from the housewives ftandpoint and the
standpoint Of the sanitarian. He aimed he
sa-d. 10 make clear many things to which refer
ence wOHii probably be made In other lectures
and give definitions so that the matters referred
10 would be well Understood. Thus his lecture
would lay the foundation for others relating
To house sanitation ard the heaith of
people IN their homes. The main work of
reducing the death rate, OF prevent
ing pam and suffering. must be done
n done al all. he said. in tine homes Of the peo-
PIE One way nf reaching the homes. the homes
where no newspapers are read. was through the
Children. Maybe in this some work might
te done :o- the next generation. il NOT for this.
To get at the essential meanings of the words
Dr. billings traced the history and etynolOgy
OF tne terms 9Th. dirt. dust and cleanliness.
There we're. he said. difereE; kinds OF cielnli
ness The Cleanliness Of glass or dish that
might suit the housewife WouId not suit the
Chemist. ard even when the chemist had
cleaned i with his ACIDS it word not be clean
enoagn FOR the surgeon. ]: might If eXpo-ed,
receive some minute organisms that would drop
mo 1t from the air. 1t 20 these organisms
that D.. Billings devoted his address.
THE vSBrtLaISG PROCESS.
There are IIea, that have come up about
these things. he said. IN the las. twenty years.
They are the products Of decay. They require
life "a precede them and life to make them TO
Produce tn change that Las given rise to the
uuY .ea-s8t odors. The change Os organic mat
ter which = kuOHn as pa.refIcilOn Il b-OUght
about uy certain living things. Ore Of the
comrnuuest # these i mold mIldew. He
showed how the word mold and mill hal TIE
same roo. Hpli. he said. grinds all o. ganic
natter DOWN again into matter fit to buisd Up
other r~gaai>lns. II one c0I!l imagine tina;
the building facilities of a city were limited to
the bTs k IN The bGidilgS already in existence.
that TO build Uu 4 new b1I,,ti1S one wou!l have
to tear down old ones and the bricks again.
he could have some conception OF the situation
In the word OF life. 10 build up any organism
o-emu-t have certain forms of confined oxygen.
that Is. one must have a brick.
Now thee mods ard certain Oti;er organisms
are the unDUI!iers. They take To pieces. Thee
organisms have a VERY impc- taut function IN
the world. They provide the material for new
life. They are the mills OF the Gods that grind
exceeding small. They nlay not look very at
tractiye a. one looks al them some piece of
leather. bus If he examine them under micro
scope he viii fHd some of them very beautiful
in form aud eJ,o-. The lecturer exhibited on
charts some representations Of the appearance
of such grow:hs under the microscope. There
are other organisms he said. tn : are composed
OF simple cells Some are animal ard some
vegetable Those thas are vegetable are xnovn
a. bacteria and those tina; are animal nlic-Uzoa.
There Is convenient term 10 coSer tan
both. they are known as Heterogeneous.
He proposed to tall chiefly o: the bacteria.
BACTERIA.
He asked his Lea-ers 20 picture in thei-
minds a bath sponge with its iuterstices filed
with nearly tranSE aren't Jelly and woven
through it fine threads that abou. once in an
hour or an hour and half we've dawn or
Iooped together in the center o. the sponge
and then parted so the sponge VA divided IN
half and each par: wen: tn "a he same pro
cess and SO on Iheu =. .ss&cl them to
imagine this sponge shrinking down TO the size
of the head OF a pin. and then shrinking more
until ten thousand of them would just go across
the head of PIN. Then they wOuli have some
idea Of these minute Organisms and o. Their
produc ton. One OF them VIII produce
10. 900 eco in twenty-foUT hours II thu teInpera-
ture and other conditions are taFo-ab!e. These
are little ! Iaats. O1e caalO- see .nu-i difference
between the individuals urGer y microscope.
II. however. one cuItiva;es them the eharacter-
istcs Eeloped in their growth serve 20 identify
them. To show this Dr.. Billings exhibited
tubes containing Jelly in which had been grown
bacteria OF pink yeast. CHAMBERS. tuberculosis
and DIS. Bv t.If.eren. M Z DDS there had been
discovered 500 or 600 of thee organisms. and It
had been found that they have different powers
ard property. and tina. :Ley breed tT9c. thai -
produce only their own k!=d. Some OF theEi
caused disease and were known as Vat.4USGAIc
or disease-PrOduclng bacteria.
NOsr OF TEEN BENEFICIAL
The great majority, SO out OF 100. 90 not
breed disease at all. No. only they are not
harmful. but they are beneficial and are abso-
luteIv necessary to the production of life. SOM
OF these organisms grown and flourish onlv IN
a dead body. Others grow ard flourish Only il
living matter. They axe parasitic The para
site OF scarlet fever and of smallpox only grow
and increase IN the living body. There are
other organism that grow and flourish either in
the body or outside. Typhoid fever and
cholera germs. he said. would grow III water
that has in 1t dead organic matter.
One of the first differences he wanted TO call
attention to is that some Of these orGani-Ius
grow and flourish in air. They produce ter
nier tatiou and change OESanic ma ter INFO III
trates OF uitrites. They do it without produc-
ing any offensive gases. Their work OF I'M
building Is complete.
Then there are others that do not flourish in
air. They are the organisms that flourish in
the depths of cesspOOis. They give rise to
putre.action and offensive odors. There are
not many OF them essentially dangerous. They
do not cause specific disease. Whea they have
got through their work the matter not down
to the bricks There Is q good deal of mortar
hanging 10 the bricks After their work is
done the matter has To go through other pro-
eesses before il Is thoroughly decOmposed.
sCxLI0Hr KILLS THEM.
Sunligh: very soon kills all of these organ
hams and especially those that produce disease.
The bacillus tuberculosis would be killed in
four hours in the sunlight Tbs: is OF the
reasons why sunlight is good thing To have In
n room IN all corners OF L. Ieese organisms
prodrre various products, and some Of them
are poisonous venom. he said. Is poison
produced by an animal. and a certain quantity
Vas required 20 Kill The popularity OF vIrus,
however a. that its effects are not IN proportion
to the quantity. The effects have no relation To