The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-03-26
ABOUT MICROBES.

Some one has been enqulrlnB Oh
what becomes of the microbes when a
person is dead. The matter has been
investigated in Germany by DR.. Klein,
who has buried animals infected with
various diseases and then disinterred
them at various periods. These results
have been published in the Bacteriolo~
gical Magazine.
The doctor found that the bacillus of
cholera lives nineteen days after buri-
al but is not reproductive after the
eighteenth. The bacillus of typhoid
lives about the same time. The plague
bacillus is always alive after seventeen
days of burial, but never after twenty
one days. The bacillus of tuberculosis
does not survive the animal it has kill
ed 1t was found in the organs of the
corpses, but no cultures could be made
from it and the experiments of repro
ducing tuberculosis by injecting the
baciln found in corpses have never
succeeded.
There are some interesting deduc-
tons to be made from these expert
ments. If those upon tuberculosis are
to be believed, and there is no reason
to doubt DR.. Klien, there is absolutely
no reason to cremate the body of a
Consumptive on sanitary grounds.
During life the expectorations and ex-
creta of the sufferer are dangerous, but
with death the microbe dies too and
from this source the body is harmless,
| NH-b a Ot
rate during decomposition. Therefore
the body of a tuberculous person is not
dangerous, and, ceteris paribus, the
body of tuberculous OK or COW cannot
be dangerous. From this it may be de-
duced that the main danger from cattle
| lies not in their flesh, but only in their
milk, and this not because of the cook
ing of the flesh, but because the death
of the animal and of the microbe of
tuberculosis are practically synchro-
nous.
But if there is no danger from the
bacillus of tuberculosis after death
there is great danger from it during
life and DR.. Klein uses these words
which should be we'll considered by this
community. 1T should be insisted up
on that the bacillus of tuberculosis,
destroys more lives than that of the
plague although it frightens people
! less" This after all is only additional
proof upon the point. There is hardly
q medical or a statistical authority that
does not use the same or similar words,
yet we quarantine the plague and pay
millions of dollars to fight it, while we
let consumption stalk into our midst
and will heed no word of warning. Con-
sumptives from outside countries
should be prevented from entering, and
as much as possible our own consump-
tives should be segregated. One step
in the direction is the Hospital for In
curables, other steps will follow.
Upon the bacillus of plague the state
ment of DIR. Klein hardly agrees with
the opinions of our own physicians His
statement is that the plague bacillus
can only survive burial from seventeen
to twenty-one days. According to our
physicians the bacillus may last in the
earth an almost unlimited time for
building operations in Chinatown for
a year. 1t would be satisfactory and
interesting if the psychologists of the
Board would institute some expert
nents in this direction. The life of the
plague bacillus underground is much
that of the typhoid bacillus. Yet so
much do we fear the plague bacillus
that we at once burn the bodies, con-
sidering burial as dangerous, but we
do not cremate for typhoid though it's
bacillus lives quite as long as that OF
plague.
Into the Arcana of the medical pro-.
fession it does not become a layman
to scrutinize too much. But certainly
there are some things which seem in
explicable. 1t is pity that there are
such opposite opinions. Yet we cheer
fully and blindly obey instructions in
medicine which we would challenge in
almost anything else.
II