The Portland daily press., 1895-09-30
DEATH TO INSECTS.
Scientific Cultivation Of Diseases Fa-
tai to Caterpillars, SC.

| A>ApN-~~~~
tai to CaterpilIars, sc.
Experiments Now Being Made by the Ag-
| rioulturaI Department..
The Department of Agriculture, through
several of it's experiment stations, is max
ing some interesting experiments. The
germs of diseases found to be common to
! insects are being cultivated, and the
microbes are let loose, causing dire dis
tress to the myriads of little rascals
which make the Yankee farmer unhappy
and which torment every American I'M
der his own roof. At the recent meeting
of the medico-legal congress in New York
the fact that disease germs may be used
with unhappy effects for the accomplish
mont of homicides was pointed out, but
who has guessed that such happy results
as Insecticides may be had from the
same?
Experiments in this new science are
| being conducted by DR.. S. A. Forbes of
the agricultural experiment station at
| Urbana, Ill. under direction of the De-
partment of Agriculture. DR.. Forbes has
|
year locusts and many other insects. A
great part of his work has been aimed at
the "chinch bug" which during the sum.
mer has committed many thousands OF
dollars worth of damage to the western
corn and wheat crops All insects OF
course, have their characteristic diseases
and plaques, just as do men. DR.. Forbes
| has discovered that disease Which is most
fatal to the chinoh bug.
GERMS OF DISEASE.
| This is what Is commonly known as
| the "white fungus In few days after
contracting this malady the insects die.
soon after which they become covered
| with sort of white mold. The germs,
or spores, of this white growth have been
carefully studied under the microscope
| and it has been disco cd how to cultivate
| them artifcally. This may be done in a
manner similar to that in which con-
sumption, diphtheria, or other disease
germs are cultured by bacteriologists for
experimental purposes. The culture
media must first be found This must
be preparation upon which the germs
will grow, just as they do in the human
| body.
For breeding consumption or diphtheria
germs psychologists use bouillon made
of beef broth, gelatine and other food
stuffs, which correspond In their compo-
| sitions to the living tissues of the body
upon which the germs naturally live. The
| culture media of the chinch bug disorder
| is found to be a batter of raw corn meal,
mixed with beef broth. This is put in
test tubes and Jars and the white parti-
cles of the disease are sprinkled upon 1T.
Soon they begin to grow, spreading and
| injecting almost the entire substance.
If uncorked among mass OF insects
this heavily charged media will, of course
fill their minute breathing organs with
the deadly germs, SO small that they are
not probably distingnishable in the air
which these little creatures inhale. The
bugs will in the course of few days die
of pestilence, more fatal even than Is
the smallpox, to US
DISTRIBUTING CONTRACTION.
DR.. Forbes has adopted novel plan for
distributing oontagion among healthy
insects at work in the corn and wheat
fields. All over the country infected with
the ohinch bug plague he has, through
the papers, requested all farmers desiring
to rid themselves of it, to send him by
express as many healthy insects as may
be captured and placed in boxes. These
after being exposed to the disease covered
batter were shipped back to the farmers,
who were instructed to keep them con-
| fined until dead of the disease. AS many
other living bugs as might be caught
were placed in this same "contagion box"
until they showed signs of the disease,
when they were liberated into the fields
their healthy neighboTs. The Agrioul-
tural Department has records of expert
ments in this line made by hundreds Of
| farmers with amusing results.
Many agricultural scientists predict
that the experiments open wide field for
anew science, which will bring benefit
to the garden and household as we'll.
from the section of entomology at the
recent meeting of the--association ,.of agri-
cultural colleges and experiment stations,
referred to the work of DR.. Forbes as
marking one of the most valuable advanc-
es in economic entomology.
NOT DANGEROUS TO MEN.
But would we suffer the danger Of con-
tracing for ourselves one of those dis
eases, from the mosquito, for instance,
which deals directly with our blood9
Entomologists have found that the diseas-
es of insects are not dangerous to men,
although disease is frequently carried
from one man to another by flies and
others of their kind. This latter point
was recently demonstrated before the
Royal Society, London Common house
flies were placed in contact with a Guilt
walton ofEdiseasa bacilli They were after
ward allowed to escape into large room,
where they remained undisturbed for
certain number of hours. When after
ward captured they were made to. walk
over slices of sterilized potatoes. Tt was
found that at each point where fly made
it's track on potato there were growing
the deadly germs Of the same disease. The
result Of this experiment was meant to
demonstrate the danger of eating fruit
from open air stands, previously exposed
to insects which may have only short
time before had their feet in contact with
evil germs.
Foreign doctors have likewise been in
vestigating the strange case of woman
who recently died of septic erysipelas
brought to her by fly whose mandibles,
doubtless, had been buried in sore on
another person only short time before.
In both of these cases, however, the IN
scots were not found to have contracted
the disease themselves. nor would any
danger be offered to man by any plague
of the insect world.
Some farmers experiment ting oo-operat-
lively with DIR. Forbes not only take live
bugs charged with disease and distribute