The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-27
HI.-THg GROWTH OF PREVENTIVE
MEDICINE.

| teenth century Public hygiene was Guilt
, waited among the Egyptians. and in the
Mosaic law ii reached a remarkable or
ganization. The personal hygiene of the
Greeks was embraced in the saying, THE
fair mind in the sair body" and the value
of exercise and training was fully recog-
nized. The Romans, too, in public and
private hygiene, were our superiors in
the matter of water supply and baths. But
modern sanitary science has a much wider
scope and is concerned with the causes
of disease quite as much as with the con-
ditions under which these diseases pre-
vail. The foundations of the science were
laid in the last century with Jenner's dis
covery of vaccination. Howard. too. had
grasped the association of fever with
overcrowding in the jails, while the pos
sibility of the prevention of scurvy had
been shown by Captain Cook and by Sir
Gilbert Blaine.
Preventive medicine was a laundering,
incomplete science until bacteriology
opened unheard of possibilities for the pre-
vention of disease. Before discussing
some of the victories of preventive medi-
cine it will be well to take a brief survey
SCIENCE OF BACTERIoLoGY.
From the brilliant overthrow by Pas
teur, in 1861 and by Koch and Cohn. in
1876. of the theory of spontaneous genera
ton. we may date its modern growth
Wrapped up in this theory of spontaneous
generation, upon which speculation ragged
centuries before the invention of the
ology.
The ancient Greek and Roman philos-
ophers wrestled with the question. and
very interesting views of the relation of
germ life to disease are preserved to us in
their manuscripts. With the invention of
the microscope we can mark the first
positive step toward the goal of today. A
Jesuit priest Kircher. in 1871. was the
first to investigate putrefying meat, milk
and cheese with the crude microscope of
his day. and left us indefinite remarks
concerning very minute living worms
found therein. -Four years after Kircher
a Dutch linen merchant. Anthony Van
Leeuwenhoek. by improving the lenses
of the microscope, saw in rain water
putrefying fluids, Intestinal contents. and
saliva. minute moving living particles
which he called "animalculae.' In med
ical circles of his day these observations
,,o,,ad tbo roanos, ip,ores, and tho tho
Org thai these .'animaIoulae'' might he
the cause of all disease was eagerly dis
cussed. Pleincz, of Vienna, after much
observation of various fluids putrefying
and otherwise wrote in 1852 that IT was
his firm belief that the phenomena of
diseases and the accommodation of animal
fluids were wholly caused by these minute
living things. rf..s,
Notwithstanding such assertions. from
his day on until Pasteur. Koch. and Cohn
finally proved its misconceptions in 1876.
the theory of spontaneous generation held
the upper hand In all discussions upon the
question.
The stimulus to research as to the
causes OF disease along the line OF bac-
terial origin did not entirely cease to be
felt, and the names of Pollender and
Davaine are linked together in the first
undoubted discovery of heterogeneous
in disease, when the cause of anthrax, a
disease of cattle, was solved in 1863. Fol
lowing closely upon Dayaine's researches
were worked out and to the efforts of the
British surgeon. Lister. are due the great
advances of modern surgery.
In rapid succession the presence of BAG
teria was clearly demonstrated in relaps-
ing fever leprosy. and typhoid fever: hut
far eclipsing all former discoveries on ac-
count of the magnitude of the difficulties
encountered aad overcome. were the brill
liant demonstrations of the cause OF con-
sumntion and allied diseases and that of
Asiatic cholera by DR.. Robert Koch. in
lss2 and in 1884. respectively.
From that time onward inn,,merabIe
v,orkars have satisfied the critical scIer-
tiff, world as to the causes of pnermonia
dinhtheria. tetanus. influenza and buhonic
uIaeue esides MANY diseases of cat,la
horses sheen. and other animals and in
scots
Having piancad bas,itv at tho bis,or,.
of bsc,erioloe,v We may pe,,t corsi5a,. conn,
facts concernipg tho oerr,s tbe,rsa,,.,..
What are thev2 To the Law mind ,ba
,vords perm nicroba bacteri,,r, ,,5
baciI,us often convev confused ida,s 80
Invisible wriegline worm-lilse creat,,res
enemies of mankind. ever on the watch ~
gain steaIthv entrance into our bod,es
where they wreak harm and death. scien
ILLEGALLY considered. however. they are the
smallest of living things yet known. They
are not animals, but are members of the
vegetable kingdom. and are possessed Of
definite yet varying shapes. They consist
of "a jelly like substance called protoplasn,
which is covered In and held in place by