Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1893-04-15
DISEASE GERMS
A Highly Interesting and Instructive
Lecture.

very interesting anu lAstt =
recently. on The Germs Fouhu IN .no
Air" The lecturer said: ITO prove .ne
nresence in the air of living forms this
s;mnIa test will suffice: Take little
oloIsfpl of bouillon broth, filtered 10 re-
11ove an bits of beef fiber. Such
To.,id is clear as crystal and shows under
tbn microscope not a sign OF lie, no
natter how closely examined. Let TINS
stand for few days IN warm place
and then examine it again. The nuld Is
No LONGER clear, but tErbid, and drop
placed beneath the microscope Will be
found crowded with living things that
iostIe one another and hasten to and fro
across the scene like busy human beings
in a city street. We scott, perchance,
of miracles. Yet here is surely one.
What magic art has wrought this change?
Whence have come these innumerable
snecks of life! This was an unsolved
problem long after the microscope had
revealed their existence. Men could not
doubt their eyes-the living things were
present in the fluid beyond question, but
what had been their origin2
1t was discovered that the generation
of these swarms can be prevented in
very simple way. That if the bouillon is
kept for some time at boiling tempera-
ture and then sealed at once SO as to pre-
vent the access of air, it will remain
clear for days, for weeks, for indefinite
periods, and show no trace OF living
forms on miscroscopical examination.
The sole difference in the treatment OF the
fluid in the two cases has been the ex-
clusion of air. And SO men came to look
in the air for the source of the changes so
long misunderstood. Then slowly, step
by step, came the knowledge that in
the atmosphere everywhere floats seeds or
germs of life, constantly on the alert for
a congenial spot where they may allght
and make their home. With this discov-
cry the old doctrine of spontaneous gen
Grafton had at last to be discarded. 1t
was not given up without a struggle and
many wordy battle, but to-day there
are few indeed who believe in it.
Not content with finding that the air
contains such germs, science has devised
ways for estimating their number has
made out their structure; has learned
how they reproduce their kind, and has
become familiar with the habits of indi-
yidual varieties. An ingenious French
scientist, after painstaking experiments,
has calculated that in the ordinary at
mosphere of large city there are 400
germs to every cubic yard; in the air o.
a room or house in winter, kept closed tc
exclude the cold, he estimates that Their,
are $4,000 germs to every cubic yard
and in the wards of a long used hospita
he found 10000 germs in the same al
space. That institution, however, die
not have system Of ventilation such a
will be a feature OF the hospital soon t,
form part Of Cooper Medical College.
The same French scientist found tina
in summer, whether in city or country
the air contains three or four times NOR
germs than in winter; that the air a
elevations is always less densely popu
lated by them than that near the surfac
of the earth, and that the air on sea o
on mountain heights is almost entirel
free from them. 1t is generally to b
regretted that this scientist did not eX
tend his investigations to the atmOspher
of one Of our Mission street horse-cars
habituaiy crowded with passengers an
with every door and window Tight
closed. The man who does examine on
of these for germs will, no doubt, fin
"there's millions in it "
These jewellers of the air vary great
in size Some appear under the micro
scope as minute, rounded dots. Thes
have been named c0ccj, from the Gree
word meaning a berry or pill. Othe
look like short rods, and hence get I'll
name 51ctTia, from the Greek wor
meaning a rod Still others of simili
shape but little longer, are Gale
6acMj, from the Latin word meaning
staff. And, lastly, there are forms Gale
SpiriHi, because they look like Ions
twisted spirals. Though science Civ,
these distinctiven names to different form
vet popular use designates all germs
bacteria, regardless of their shape,
size, though all are visible to the make
eye, there Is nevertheless great variatiC
among them. Some of the coccj are bl
100000 of an inch in diameter,
that 20, 600 of them together in a heG
would occupy only one cubic inch
space. Some Of the spirilli, on the 9th
hand, attain length of 1900 of ;
inch, but with germs as with men, Il
stature of the individual bears no relate
TO its influences or to its possibilities.
In structure all these living germs a
but simple vegetable cells. Imagine
minute speck OF matter of jelly-like co
sistency, the surface little more fir
and dense than the center. Such is Il
living cell, the last step in the subdivi
ion of all living structures. The an
tomist, with his knife, can dissect Il
animal body and reveal the different Ii
sues of what it is composed-the mu
cles, the bones, the arteries and nerv
and the connecting strands that bind Il
parts together. But with his microscoi
he goes on far beyond that point al
learns that each muscle, bone and ner
is itself made up Of multitudcs Of IND
vidual cells, differing vastly in shape N
size according to the tissue in which tn
arc found, but all essentially the same
structure So the botanist can IA
apart the plant and show its various &
sues. but each of those tissu,
beneath the microscope, becomes
last mass Of tiny cells. =
You'd this point, either in amin
or vegetable tissue, no eye has ever see
and these cells become, therefore, {