The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1901-11-27
DISEASES KEEL IN eoTTlss.
A CollcctIcn Of I,vr,an rs n 60
Army Medical sluScCm.

A ColIcctlcn Of I-vran rs n &C
Army Medical sluSeCm.
In the Army Medical unsca-,
Washington there is a bottled stock t.
nearly all the diseases vh.,h are ant 80
be fatal TO human life. There are esp
cially on hand germs Of consumption
pneumonia, typhoid fever, diphtheIia,
Asiatic cholera, blood poisoning. erysip.
elias and carhunclc.
The museum keeps these diseases bot
tied in tubes constantly ready for immc-
diatc use. The curator in charge Of the
laboratory mentioned that he could give
them all TO any one in few moments.
He added that he would he able TO do
this al no serious loss or expense, mas
Uuch as there was enough consumption,
FOR instance, in the consumption bottle
to communicate the disease TO many
thousands of people, and it was the same
with all the other diseases ON hand.
In administering pneumonia TO a pa
ti,nt. he said. he would select by prefer
ence the method of putting solution Of
the germs in water in Il spraying vessel
and have the victim breathe the spray.
The subject operated upon would almost
Immediately contract the affection with
absolute certainty every time. He eN-
planned that pneumonia is contracted not
from a cold or Inflammation Of the lungs,
as people ordinarily suppose, but from
the breathing in of pneumonia germs,
whose increase and development are aid.
cd by an unhealthy condition, such aS a
cold may give rise to. The mouths OF
altogether healthy people very commonly
have lots Of pneumonia bacteria in them.
As for carbuncle, the curator said that
he could produce it any time in the most
healthy individual by a simple incubation
with solution Of the germs. Once 50 in
oculated you would have about an even
chance with death. Spraying the throat
with a solution Of the proper germs is the
method also for conveying diphtheria.
There is no great difficulty in contract
ing ASiatic cholera il you want 70. Take
a few of the germs from the appropriate
bottles at the museum and drink them in
water or beef tea. Ii your stomach is in
a particularly healthy condition, you may
not take tie disease, but otherwise you
are pretty certain 10 have il. Ii is said
that an assistant i'm the laboratory Of the
famous DIR. Koch once swallowed by ac-
Cident a lot of germs OF Asiatic cholera,
with which experiments were being made.
and developed what Or. Koch believed u
typical case. The assistant recovered hy
a narrow chance.
The diseases which the government
keeps thus bottled in convenient form are
all obtained-the germs, that is TO say
from actual diseased tissues OF patients
afflicted with the complaints To pgUpa.
safe the germs in any quantity frou these
tissues is easy enough Vegetable gcla.
lin, from a Japanese plant called agar
gar, is boiled and mixed with beef tea,
so as to form a soft transparent solid.
\ small quantity OF this is put into a
,ube tightly corked with cotton. The tube
Is then placed in an oven and heated until
all the germs in il, OF whatever sort, are
killed. Next. the tube is briefly uncorkcd
and long steel wire that has been heat
ad also TO sterilize il is dipped in the
germs OF the disease which il is desired
to cultivate and scraped across the sur
face OF the gelatin. The tube is now
recorked and permitted to stand for
few hours at the end OF which the hac-
terra of the disease. having found the gel
attn TO their taste for feeding up1n, will
have multiplied enormously. 50 as to COW
rr the surface of the gelatin. Thea the
germs are ready for the purpose for
which they are kept at the museum
namely. to enable the physicians 20 make
experiments 10 determine the p;opcr
method OF treating the disease and to
seek remedies for it.-New York Sun.