The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-08-18

when introduced into mixture of glu-
cose or starch, in the presence OF
warmth and moisture sets up fer
mentation. If the mixture be Z 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.
| do not wish to "pose" as an alarm
list, nor am | 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 whild am not afraid that cholera
and typhus will be greatly spread by
yeast-raised bread, | 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 l
need scarcely say this was put stop
to in very short order. / have no rea-
son to suppose bakers are less liable to
cutaneous diseases than are other
men, and l know, as every house
wife knows, yeast-raised bread
must be worked long time. This
is an exceedingly Objectionable
thing from the standpoint of 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 ears. are most often collected
on the hands. So well do physicians
know this that there is no ablution
practical equal to that which they I'M
dergo before they perform any kind of
surgical operation. Any person who
has ever krcaded dough understands
the way in which the dough cleans the
4 III hOANAs,, tiiA'
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 saving that we must rely on heat to
kill these germs. because il is almost
certain that they will be there. Now,
UNDERGONE or doughty bread is form
which every man and woman has seen.
1t is q belief as old as the hills that
underdone bread is unhealthful. This
reputation has been earned for it by
the experience of countless genera
lions. 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 uncooked yeast
dough is very difficult to digest, and
this reason has value. No one but q
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 uncoobed yeast bread. Yet this
result from this cause is more than
probable. / 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 thai
germs collected by the baker have
found their way into the yeast bread
that the heat has not been sufficient tC
destroy them, that the uncooked yeas
bread has been eaten and with 1t th'
colonies of germs, that they hav'
found their way into the blood ant
that the call for our services which
followed, has rounded off this sequence
of events.
have already pointed out that thu
! germs of disease are to be found IL
the air and dust. The longer any sub
stance to be eaten is exposed to TIN
air, the greater the chance that germ
will be deposited on it. Bread raised
; with yeast is worked down or kneade'
twice before being baked and this pro
cess may take anywhere from fou
| hours to ten. 1t has, then. the chanc
of collecting disease germs during thi
process of raising and it has two peri
DDS OF working down or kneading dun