Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1895-08-04


THE MICROBES COLUMBUS-COL-
ONIZING WITHIN US-WHY HAS
GOD CREATED THESE LILlPU-
THAN TILES?-ARE THEY AS
IMPORTANT AS THE PLANETS?
SHOULD THEY BOARD OR CAMP
WITH US?-WATER, AIR AND
LIGHT THE REPAIRERS-LlfES
TRANQUIL EXIT.
II is now asserted by the great major
itv of physicians that most If not all
diseases are formed by microbes; trll-
lions of tiny beings, world OF them
selves. whose Columbus was the micro
scope: each individual living, con-
scious, and possessing peculiarltles ana
ambitions of its own-each capable OF
obtaining a livelihood from the uni
verse of pray which our bodies present
to il. We are told that these lively
little weavers of shrouds abound every
where: that the earth, the water, the
air all seem at times packed with the
ammunition of human disease and
death We eat these petty but power
full atoms of poison-drink them
breath them. No odds how healthy we
may appear-no matter how vlvaclous
we may feel-there are constantly In
our bodies more or less fragments of
destruction, ready to devour us from
within.
Some of them are as great prisoners
to the human system as Lucrezia Bor-
gia ever was reputed to be. The com
ma bacillus Of cholera kills mainly by
the virus he creates in the system dur
ing his stay with us; he is a prisoner
rather than an eater of the human sys-
TEN. He shows a cheerful willingness
to stay with us; if necessary, TO board
not only with, but Within, us, to fra
ternize with his fellows, breed, multi
ply and form colonies; and the name
we give to this city of microbes, this
community of enforced robbers and
malefactors, is disease; and we try to
eradicate them with more poison, which
we call medicine, and for which we
pay dearly.
Does it not seem strange that God,
having made man in his own image,
has also created these liliputian rep
tiles and insects and serpents, SEEM
ingly for the purpose of prematurely
destroying that image?
We understand and enjoy the cats
being, as Victor Hugo says, a revised
proof-sheet OF the mouse; we see why
one class of vermin should be trained
by nature to exterminate another; but
why man, whom God has taken so
much pains to create, should, in the
midst of his career, be executed,
whether innocent or guilty, by millions
Of invisible murderers, made and COM
missioned for the purpose, would natur-
ally be set down as a death-framed
puzzle.
But the question appears, "Is it true?
Are all theEN tiny creatures intended
and equipped as man-eaters. or may
they be part of the order of the uni
verse, without which it would lose its
balance, and cease to exist?" Nature.
in the administration of her kingdom,
knows no high or low-large or small.
Perhaps microbe is of as much i'm
portance to her schemes as is a planet
or a sun. Perhaps, indeed, he has his
legitimate mission and his inalienable
rights.
Maybe the long flotillas and cara
vans of bacilli that constantly pass
through our systems are merely travel
ing upon their own business, and have
no desire to modest us; until by our
carelessness or righteousness, we choke
the channels through which they would
sail, spoil the highways over which
they would tread, and compel them to
halt. If they stay with us, they must
board with us. If we constrain them
to camp within our bodies, they must
live and eat there; and their presence
and their foraging we still call dis
ease.
1t has been shown that the above
mentioned comma microbe, which
causes cholera, is healthier, stronger
and happier when residing outside the
human body than when penned with
in; that it lives better and thrives more
Justify if we let 1t go upon its way; that
it poisons and eats us only when OBJ
liged to; and no doubt this is true of
several of the microbe nations-perhaps
all.
What are we to do then? To keep
all the roads within the body in good
repair; to delay not for moment this
great procession of miniature pilgrims
that is constantly passing along; to give
them all Godspeed, and tell them by
no menas to delay for the infinitesimal
fraction of a moment, on our account.
What are the great road repairs-the
great encouragers of microbe travel and
radiance?
Water, Air and Light.
Waterl-The angel that lays soothing
hands upon a fevered brow-the de-
liverer that can put out a burning
thirst-the guardian that grasps and
carries away the impurities that would
rust and blight us. Water!- that had
to wait scores of centuries for the HUI
man mind to learn and acknowledge
It's value! Whoever knows how to
rightly use this element, and has the
energy and perseverance to do so, has
gone a long way toward perfect health.
Few diseases Of stomach ever existed
where plenty of water had been.
Pure airl-The divine breath of God
whenever He walks this earth. Nour-
ishment, stimulus, restOratiOn-all so
free and plenty that there is nothing
with which to compare it. No disease
of the respiratory organs can take root
where plenty of air is allowed, or, if
need be, forced to go.
Sunlightl-Every ray is a friendly
arrow from heaven-loaded with life
and magnetism. 1t is from the king
stars, which received it from God Him
self; it cures when nothing else will or
can. The poor consumptives that went
to live in the Mammoth Cave found
there. or carried there, everything to
feed and cure them, excepting sunlight;
some of them persisted before they
could get out, and the remainder of