The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1897-05-07
VICTORIES OVER DISEASE AND PAIN.
CLARA A. CoLGIN,

w In DICEdDE avn I-tI-N
CLARA A. CoLGIN,
within each man is an Advise Builder over
seeing many hundred little builders which
make here a fiber of a muscle, here forming a
bone and there combining tendon, fashiOning
each with greatest care making day by day,
without sound Of hammer, the human body the
| temple of God" Since the human body is so
wonderfully made, is not the science which
gives the best means for the defense of this
| body, against its enemies, of all sciences the
most important?
| In olden times the knowledge of the causes of
disease was very meager. When mother said
to her child don't do that and the child, &C
cording tOjuvenile custom, asked why? The
mother would say it wasn't healthy, then the
child bnew as much as the mother. But when
the inquisitive child of science persistently asks
Mother Nature why She gives him more
satisfactory answer. And the mysterious veil
which has for so long hung over some of the
most widespread and terrible of human diseases
is being gradually drawn aside and we no
longer grope in the dark after a mysterious and
unknown enemy, but battle with known and
comprehensive foes, the greatest of which are
the cunning little bacteria. They are a
group of lowly plants which are very small in
deed and although they have existed through
out all ages they were entirely unknown until
within the last few years. When alive. many
of the rodlike bacteria can perform the most
astonishing series of movements They move
slowly strike against one another. moving
about in varying forms, until the eye tires of
watching them. When an injury occurs the
white blood cells gather around 1t and with the
aid of the injured tissues soon permanently
bind the edges of the wound together, but if
bacteria enter the tissue they produce acertain
amount of poison and multiply so rapidly that
the white blood cells may continue to grow
more and more and die. the tissue may break
down and thus an abcess may be formed.
Milk is an excellent food for bacteria, and al
though they have an evil name, successful but
ter making lies in the utilization of the bacteria
which abound in the milk. We know the best
butter is made from sour cream. This is usual
" produced by allowing the cream to stand,
but our foreign competitors have devised q
method whereby the dried seed or powder of
the bacteria. which is recommended to sour the
cream for the butter maker, may be bought
and the butter made in this way is said to be of
a most delicious flavor and also keeps well
The secret of that dread disease, consump-
ton, which causes hours OF uutOln agony anu
which increases the death rate more than one
seventh, has only been detected within the last
few years. Physicians have long been able to
detect its approach and whittier it tended, but
treatment was given out of respect to humanity
rather than with the expectation of q cure.
But now we know that tuberculosis is never
caused by anything else than the tubercle bac-
illus. The germ gets into the body from out
side and is very rarely inherited The most
common seat of tuberculosis is the lungs and
the most common way the bacilh enter is by
being hailed with the dust floating in the air
in regions where victims of tuberculosis have
been. Bacteria of any kind always cling close
TO moist surfaces, but current strong enough
to sweep them off their position would be COM
petent in spreading the disease The act of
kissing might prove itself most efficient in the
transmission of tuberculosis. Cattle are often
the victims of tuberculosis which is caused by
the same species of germs as cause the disease
IN man Since the tubercle baciIh may be con-
tanned in the flesh of diseased cattle this may
be an important source of human disease. 1t is
almost beyond comprehension how any man
can be guilty Of sending tubercular cattle into