Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1895-08-09
BACTERIA BANE.
wA1,Elc As a MEANS, OF INYE.,
DUCING DISEASE GERMS.
Bacteria Thrive In. Pure Water ana
Perish I'm Turbid Rlvcrs-yalue
of Filtering-Persons Sus-
ceptible to Bacteria.
PROFESSOR RAY LANKEs-

cent addresses, most inter-
9 esting and instructive review
of what has thus for been learned
about bacteria and their relation to
the health of man. That that relation
is intimate, says the New York Tri.
bune, is no longer matter of doubt.
Nothing is moro certain in medical
and biological science than that vari-
GUS diseases aro directly caused by tho
introduction of specific bacteria into
tho human system aud their pernicious
activity there. Among such diseases
arc anthrax, CHAMBERS, tetanus, tuber-
culosis, leprosy, diphtheria, typhoid
fever. Asiatic cholera and tho deadly
''relaxing fever" of the East.
Tho disenso inducing bacteria are
taken into tho system in various ways,
but chiefly in food and drink. Water
is perhaps the commonest medium. 1t
is the especial vehicle for tho intro
duotion of typhoid and cholera germs.
People having regard for thoir VOL
fare, therefore, when such plagucs are
rife, seek the purest wator obtainable.
In this. however, they sometimes err.
Professor Lankesterss tells us that such
bacteria will live and thrive and null
tiply in the purest, even in distilled
water; provided, of course, That they
once got into it. On tho other hand,
in ordinary river water, turbid and
impure, they quickly perish. Tho
reason OF this seeming anomaly is
simple. The river wntor is swarm
ing with other bacteria which
nre innocuous to man, but
which are relentlessly hostile to tho
cholera and typhoid germs. This fact
has, tho Professor says, been ascer-
tanned beyond dispute, and it seems
to reveal IL singularly beautiful and
boneiicent provision of nature for
mans safety, without which the lakes
aud rivers of the world would soon
become hopolessly polluted ana tho
ravages OF diseases incompnrabIy,,more
dendly and extensive than Mt present.
These facts lead to IL 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 intorsticos,
but they have what we might term an
aseptic, or oven n biological, notion.
The lower layers of sand become cont
cd with jellylike mnsses of bacteria =
that is, of tho ordinary, putrefactive
bacteria. A purist might think those
fouled tho filters. On tho contrary,
thoy give them their real efficiency.
The water has to percolate through
these layers of bacteria, and rs 1t docs
SO the noxi0us bacteria it may huve
contained nro infallibly destroyed.
This is not the caso in tho ordinary
domestic filter, except, perhaps, with
reference to typhoid germs. Tho lat
ter may be intercepted and destroyed.
So fur MS all others arc concerned, tho
filter is moro apt to fill tho water with
them than to rid it of them. Profess
sor Lankcster tells us that every do
mestic filter in which tho Same filter
ing material is used again and again
should BIO sterilized by boiling overy
day. If not, within n week it will be-
come regular nursery for bacteria,
and increase their number in tho ''iil-
ICCCQ MuIcr u
1t is well known, of course, that
bacteria induce diseasc 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 arc in such II condition of
health rs to DO ablo to resist their
attacks. How tho tissues aro made
susceptible to morbific 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
triaing ailments. A little unsound
fruit, for example. which of itself
would cause but slight disorder, may
prepare the soil for tho rapid and
fatal propagation of cholera germs.
Curiously enough, too, just as some
bacteria destroy others, SO somo pre-
paro the way for others. and assist
them in their deadly work. Tho com
mon bacteria OF putrefaction are
harmless, and 80, taken alone, arc
those of tetanus. But tho one pre-
pares the system for the reception of
tho other, and tho two together do
disastrous work. Happily, too, it is
possible by artificial means to fortify
the system against morbitic bacteria
and render it practically immune, and
also to poison and destroy tho BAG
terra after they have been introduced.
Tho power to do this appears to reside
largely in the serum of tho blood,
and in the thyroid gland, and from
the study of these and other anti
bacterial agents Professor Lancaster
expects to see some of the greatest
future triumphs of the healing art.