Evening journal., 1899-09-08
MICROBES ARE DELICATE.
UnIesA the Conditions Are just Right,
They WIN Not Thrive
ut All.


In a very interesting lecture delivered
Et the Royal College of Physicians, DR..
Peore describes the action Of the earth
In relation to the preservation and de-
struction of contagia, pointing out that
the chemical composition of earth is
constantly changing, and that its tt-
ness for supporting the life Of the va
rious micro-organisms that are found
in il varies accordingly.
Each of these microbes presumably
grows best in what one may call its op-
timum conditions, and the smallest al
teration in these conditions may turn
the scale and decide which among the
competing organisms shall obtain the
mastery. In Illustration of the GU
rious exactitude of the conditions
without which certain fungi will not
grow, and of their extraordinary de-
velopment, whenever these conditions
are fulfilled, DR.. Poore refers TO the
growth of mushrooms.
"Some Of the larger saprophytes," he
says, "such, Sor instance, as the COM
mon mushroom, require no little skill
for their artificial production, involving
far more attention to exact details than
is necessary with the, ordinary green
leaved garden plants. We know that
for a few weeks in the autumn they
may. appear in great numbers in dry
pastures where horses have been fed,
provided that the conditions OF the air,
as temperature, light and moisture, be
favorable, and we also knOsv that di-
rectly the necessary conditions fail
the mushroom harvest is at an end"
And IL Is clear that "the optimum
conditions for the growth and develop
ment of these short-lived and delicate
organisms must be marvelously subtle,
probably quite beyond the ken of the
chemist"
Referring then to certain diseases,
such, for example, as anthrax and te-
tanus, the germs Of which are known TO
grow freely in certain soils, attention is
drawn to the rarity with which men are
attacked by them, even when working
on land which has almost certainly been
infected. We are thus brought face
to face with the Importance of the ex-
tra-corporeal phases of microbic life
IN the maintenance Of continuity of in
fection. Unfortunately, we seem TO
know but little In regard to the exac'
conditions under which the several
pathogenic organisms are best able to
maintain their existence in saprophytic
form. Something we know about the
bacillus Of the tuberculosis, and some
thing we are beginning to know about
thet of enteric fever, but much more
knowledge in this direction is badly
wanted.
1t is true enough, no doubt, as has
been well said, that "the proper study
OF mankind is man." but this is just
what the pathologist must unlearn if he
would get to the bottom Of the etiology
and especially of the epidemiology, OF
infectious ailments. No longer must
he be content to study the action OF
the microbe within mans frame or the
methods by which it brews toxins and
sets up disease, but he must trace its
life history outside, and find out what
these infectious particles are doing
and how they are living through the
long interval that sometimes lapses be-
tween the termination Of one ease
and the development Of another. One
fine morning we look out upon our pad
dock and find II full of mushrooms
and another, although we know thai
the spore is present just the same
there is not a mushroom to be seen
1t was the conditions. not the see'
alone, that made them grow. And thi
l. n nnrnhle.-Hnsnitnl