Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1893-08-17

shen introduced into a mixture of glu-
cose or starch, in the presence of
warmth and moisture sets up fer
mentation. If the mixture be starchy
dough the yeast first changesa portion
of the starch into glucose and then de-
composes the glucose by changing it
into two new substances, viz, carbonic
acid gas and alcohol.
Now the gluten, which is also a con-
stituent of dough and moist starch,
affords, with the latter, an excellent
indus for the development of germs of
disease as well as for the yeast germs.
The germs of cholera, as of typhoid
fever. would, if introduced into dough.
find very favorable conditions for their
growth.
I do not wish to .'pose" as an alarm
list, nor am 1 willing to say there is
very much chance of the germs of
typhus and of cholera reaching the
stomachs of the people who eat bread
which has been raised with yeast.
But while am not afraid that cholera
and typhus will be greatly spread by
yeast-raised bread, 1 have not the
slightest cause to doubt that other dis
eases have been and will be carried
about in the bread.
have met journeymen bakers, suf-
fering from cutaneous diseases, work
ing the dough in the bread trough with
naked hands and arms. l suppose
need scarcely say this was put stop
to in very short order. / have no rea-
son to suppose bakers are less liable to
men, and 1 know, as every house
wifi I'm CT h1-01 n
must be worked long time. This
is an exceedingly Objectionable
thing from the standpoint of a physi-
clan, and for the reasons THAT the
germs of disease which are in the air
and dust and on stairways and straps
in street cars, are most often collected
on the hands. So well do physicians
know this that there is no ablution
practical equal to that which they un-
dergo before they perform any kind OF
surgical operation. Any person who
has ever kneaded dough understands
the way in which the dough cleans the
hands. In other words, this means
that any germs which may have found
lodging place on the hands of the
baker before he makes up his batch of
bread are sure to find their way into
the dough. and once there, to find all
the conditions necessary for subdi-
vision and growth. This is equivalent
to saying that we must rely on heat to
kill these germs, because it is almost
certain that they will be there. Now,
underdone or doughty bread is a form
which every man and woman has seen.
1t is belief as old as the hills that
underdone bread is unhealthful. This
reputation has been earned for it by
the experience of countless genera
tions, and no careful mother will wish
her children to eat bread that has not
been thoroughly cooked. The reason
given for this recognized unhealthful-
ness has been that the uncool1ed yeast
dough is very difficult to digest, and
this reason has value. No one but a
physician would be apt to think of dis
ease germs which have not been killed
during the process of baking as a
cause of the sickness following the
use of uncooked yeast bread. Yet this
result from this cause is more than
probable 1 have not the slightest
doubt that could we trace back some
of the cases of illness which we meet
in our practice we would find that
germs collected by the baker have
found their way into the yeast bread,
that the heat has not been sufficient &c
destroy them, that the uncooled yeast
bread has been eaten and with it the
colonies of germs, that they have
found their way into the blood and
that the call for our services which
followed, has rounded off this sequence
of events.
have already pointed out that the
germs of disease are to be found IA
the air and dust. The longer any sub
stance to be eaten is exposed to the
air, the greater the chance that germs
will be deposited on it. Bread raised
with yeast is worked down or kneaded
twice before being baked and this pro-
cess may take anywhere from four
hours to ten. It has, then, the chance
of collecting disease germs during this
process of raising and it has two peri
DDS Of working down or kneading dur