The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1895-09-03
BACTERIA BANE.
WATER AS 4 MEANS OF INTRO
DUCING DISEASE GERMS.
Bacteria Thrive In Pure Water and
Perish I'm Turbld Rivers-VaIue
OF Filtering-Persons Sus-
ceptible to Bacteria.
YOROFESsOR RAY LANKEs-

- ter has given Us, in some re.
i cent addresses, n most inter.
esting and instructive review
OF what has thus far been learned
about bacteria and their relation ia
the health of man. That that relation
Is Intimate, says the New York Tri.
bune. Is no longer matter of doubt.
Nothing is more certain in medical
and biological science than that vari-
Gus diseases are directly caused by the
introduction of specific bacteria into
the human system and their pernicious
activity there. Among such diseases
are anthrax, CHAMBERS, tetanus, tuber-
culosis, loprosy, diphtheria, typhoid
fever, Asiatic cholera and the deadly
relaxing fever" of the East.
The disease-inducing bacteria are
taken into the system in various ways,
but chiefly in food and drink. Water
IS perhaps the commonest medium. 1t
IS the especial vehicle for the intro
duction of typhoid and cholera germs.
People having regard for their well
fare, therefore, when such plaques are
rife, seek the purest water obtainable.
la this, however, they sometimes err.
Professor Lancaster tells us that such
bacteria will live and thrive and null
hpiy IN the purest, even III distilled
water; provided, OF course, that they
once get into ii. On the other hand
In ordinary river water, turbld an il
impure, they quickly perish. The
reason OF this seeming anomaly is
simple. The river water is swarm
ing with other bacteria which
are innocuous to man, but
which are relentlessly hostile to the
cholera and typhoid germs. This fact
has, the Professor says, been ascer-
tanned beyond dispute, aud it seems
to reveal siugularly beautiful and
beneiicent provision Of nature for
mans safety, without which the lakes
and rivers of the world would soon
become hopelessly polluted ana the
rava9es of diseases incomparably more
deadly and extensive than ut present.
These facts lead to consideration
of the question of filtering water. If
done properly, such process is high
ly valuable. The great filter beds of
sand used by the London water com
panies transform foul water into an
exceptionally wholesome supply. They
do this not mechanically, by straining
the water through minute interstices
but they have what we might term an
aseptic, or even biological, action.
The lower layers of sand become coat
ed with ielly-like masses of bacteria
that is, of the ordinary, putrefactive
bacteria. A purist might think these
fouled the filters. On the contrary.
they give them their real efficiency.
The water has to percolate through
these layers of bacteria, AMI as 1t does
so the noxious bacteria it may have
contained are infallibly DESTROYED.
This is not the case in the ordinary
domestic filter, except, perhaps, with
reference to typhoid germs The lat
ter may be intercepted and DESTROYED.
SO far rs all others are concerned, the
filter is more apt to fill the water with
them than to rid it of them. Profess
sor Lancaster tells us that every dc
nestle filter in which the same filter
ing material is used again and again
should be sterilized by boiling every
day. II not, within n week it will be-
come regular nursery for bacteria.
tered" water n hundred fold.
1t is well known, of course, that
bacteria induce disease only in those
persons whose tissues are in IL recep-
tive or morbid state Some persons
may drink cholera germs by the pint
with impunity because their organs
and tissues are in such a condition of
health rs to be able TO resist their
attacks. How the tissues are made
susceptible to morbifc influences is an
interesting field of inquiry. Some
times it is by general and chronic
constitutional changes. Sometimes it
is by acute attacks of otherwise
trihiug ailments A little uns1und
fruit, for example, which of itself
would cause but slight disorder, may
prepare the soil for the rapid and
fatal propagation of cholera germs.
Curiously enough, too, just rs some
bacteria destroy others, so some pre-
pare the way for others, and assist
them in their deadly work The com
mon bacteria OF putrefaction are
harmless, and so, taken alone, are
those of tetauus. But the one pre-
pares the system for the reception of
tho other, and the two together do
disastrous work. Happily, too, it is
possible by artificial means Co fortifv
the system against morbifc bacteria
and render it practically immune, and
also to poison and destroy the bac-
term after they have bccnintroduced.
Tho power to do this appears to reside
largely in the serum Of the blood.
and in the thyroid gland, an from
tho study of these and other anti.
bacterial agents Professor Lancaster
expects TO SEQ some Of the greatest
future triumphs Of the healing art