The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-07-20
MICROBES N BLOSSOMS
now ALL THE PRETTY FLOWERS
MUST GO.

Cancer and Consumption May be Caus-
ed by Them-Eminent Authorities
Agreed as to the Danger
Perhaps even the tints and odors Of
flowers may be due to microbes. and to
deadly one at that! Recent investga-
ton has shown, according to an article
by M. Henri de Parville in La Nature
MAY 2O) that the most beautiful bios
SONS may haIbor bacteria that are
dangerous to man, and that they may
in some cases even owe to these bac-
terra their color and perfume. NJ. de
Parvlle writes:
THE vegetable world is not so harm
! less as it has been supposed to be. Ger
tain microscopic fungi living on dis
eased plants can develop in man an
communicate to him various maladias,
! such as actinOmyCOsis. The vegetable
origin of cancer is made probable by
| the Investigations of NJ. Bra, and that
tuberculosis is caused by plants IS
maintained by some authorities. Plants
may thus do us many bad turn. but
! how about flowers? NJ. Dumln-
gos Freire, well known from his inocu-
lations against yellow fever at Rio de
Janeiro, has been undertaking research
es not on the parasites or fungi of flow
| ers, but on their microbes. He finds
some dangerous kinds. These light on
flowers and the winds sprinkle them
with dust-both of which are causes of
infection"
In the hibiscus, NJ. de Parville goes
| on to tell us, NJ. Freire found species
of micro orCus h therto unknown, VIII ch
may be either harmless or dangerous;
in a variety of rose grew a species of
leptothriX usually found in stagnant
water; on another rose were found spe-
cimens of the pus bacillus, and of an
other that is new to science. The car
dinal flower yielded two species and the
peach blossom one. Says the writer:
There are thus disease producing
microbes in the heart of the flowers. If
M. DomingOs Freire is not mista6 N,
the presence of these bacilli constitutes
a new fact, which may throw light on
certain questions of animal and vege-
table pathology. Flowers contain num-
erous germs that may afterward de-
velop in the more appropriate environ
ment of an animal organism.
m. Freire goes even further. He sees
a relationship between che colOration
of the flowers and the pigments of the
microbes that they contain. For exam
pie, the delicate pink hue of the Roths.
child rose is similar to that of cultures
of the 1eptOthriX Ochracea.' So, too
the orange color of colonies of micro.
coccus crucforms' is of the same hue
as that of the pigment that covers the
anthers of the hibiscus. So much fol
the cOlOrs. Likewise. several microbiar
species reproduce the doors of the flow
ers on which they live. SO that the idei
is suggested to us that not only tL'
. colors of flowers, but also their per
fumes may be due to microbes.
There is nothing in these conclusion
that goes counter to our present knowl
edge. 1t is possible that the chemical re
actions which lead to the production 9
the colors and perfumes of flowers hav
a microbial origin. These micro organ
isms have already been detected in sucl
work. They are the active agents in al
sorts of transformations. The thesis o
NJ. Domingos Freire is therefore posi-
bly, true. Microbes even aid us in di
costing our food. Microbes are every
where and we are beginning to accus
tom ourselves to intimacy with them
Some are good and some are wicked.
: 1T is therefore not surprising that w
meet them-even some of the wicked
oneS-on flowers, since they are ais,
found in the air. The danger of coma
gion from flowers is not exaggerated
The flower collects what the breez
brings 1t, and the microbes grow on i
as they do elsewhere. But the stick.
juices glue them down and they ar
therefore more firmly Joined to the sur
! face than if the latter were smooth az,
4 dry. The moral of facts like thOs
, brought to light by NJ. Freire is tha
: we should inhale the perfumes of flow
ers at little distance, instead of plac
ing Them as some people do in contd"
with the nose. With this precautioi
we need not fear, and can still EMO,
the fragrance of these most beautiful
r creations of nature. Digest