The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1899-03-10


if pin the lower animals; the lower ami
mails are also. in the same way, and 10y
the same agency. infected with the
same diseases from each other and
from human beings. \ war of eXter-
mination against the tubercle bacillus,
to be complete, must he general as to
mankind and general as to the lower
animals. tuberculosis is prevent
able disease" DR.. Sims WoOdhead is
most rrassuring on this point. He
said, at the recent Sanitary Institute
! Congress at Brmng ham: IN o member
, Of tubcrculous family need despair of
cvadiny the dread enemy of his race.
! Children oftuberculosis parents may be
! placed under such conditions as never
| to contract the disease. Children
cannot inherit tuberculosis, although
! they may inherit weakness of consti-
tuition that renders them liable to the
attacks of the tuberc!e bacillus. The
astonishing litt-historv of the microbe
! that causes that hideous disease. clc-
| phantiasis. WAS recently set forth hv
DR.. Patrick Manson before the ROYAL
Geographical Society. and he showed
that no one now need suffer from cle-
phantiasis.
1t is generally conceded that mi
crobes belong rather to the vegetable
than to the animal kingdom, but they
partake of the characteristics of both:
for instance. many have powers Of loco
motion. Some are reproduced by fis-
Sion-that is to say, the microbe divides
itself into two portions, each of which
becomes endowed with individual life;
othc"S from seeds like germs
Several kinds of microbe have been
identified as being connected with Ger
! tain definite diseases. Some are easily
recognized: others have not distinct
characteristics One OF the most read
ilv identified is that connected with
tetanus, which is of the shape of a
drum-stick with little knob ut the
| end: whereas bacillus which Dr.
Koch has identified with cholera, and
| which from its shape he has called
| comma-hacilus, is not readily dis
| linyuishel from others. The microbe
| Of malarial fever has been recently
identified, and its curious lift-history is
even now being written.
There are two distinct preparations
Of what is called anti-toXic serum, one
oi which is derived from the proto-
plasm itself, the other from its meta
| holc product; and there is reason to
| think that Il positive curative power
may in some cases attach to the injec-
ton into the animal system of one
serum or the other. This is IA distinct
advance in meteorological science with
in the last year or two. 1t is but Il
single step, and no one can say what
| it NAV lead to. 1t has, for instance
| been definitely established that animals
gradually inoculated by small injec-
tions of the toxin of the diphtheria mi
| crobe are rendered immune to an ordi-
nary fatal dose of living diphtheria
| bacilli, but the period of protection has
| not, so far, been found to exceed one
week,-a period too short to be OF
practical use; indeed. in the present
state of our knowledge, the protective
power of prepared serum cannot be
counted on with certainty. The Lon
don Daily .MI Of October 18th re-
| ported very striking case of lock jaw
cured 10y the injection of te.arus serum,
at the Pasteur Institute, New York
The skull of the patient was trepanned
on both sides. and the serum was in
irctcd directly into the brain tissue;
the muscles of the jaw almost immedi-
atcly relaNed; the patient is now able
to masticate, and his recovery seems
certain. The operation is the eighth
on record.
1t is we'll known that many bee
keepers are not affected 10y the sting of
bees; recent inquiries show that i'm
munity may be usually acquired by
three stingS day for ten days. after
which period the patient may he con-
sidered bee-proot.
The relations of bactcria to various
forms Of disease, important though
they be, are not SO important as their
presence i'll our daily food. From time
to time we read of unaccountable cases
OF poisoning in food. and as yet we are
cropping in the dark to account for the
serious symptoms displayed. There
appear to be two classes Of food poison
ings: first. that rctcrahle to the pres
rncr III the implicated food of deleter
iouS pIo,luctS Of bacteria which multi
pied therein before it WAS swallowed
secondly, that due to similar deleterious
material manufactured, as it were, in
the stomach OF the sufferers hv living
bacteria taken with the fool.
As t. food poisoning OF the latter
class, eomctimes one and sometimes
another micrubc has been found in con
sid, cradle quantities prevailing the per
Sols attacked, but in every case the
eemlngly-implicatcd microbe has
proved to be one hitherto reputed in
n)cent.
The action Of these microbes is founC