The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1901-12-03
AGE OF MICROBES.
SCIENTISTS TRYING TO IDENTIFY
THE RHEUMATISM MICRoBE.
Present-Day Investigators DO Not At
tribute Acute Inhammatory Rheuma-
tIsm to the Same Organism as Do Their

This is the age of microbes. The
disease that has no microbe to which
PATERNITY can be traced is not worthy
of the consideration of the medical fra
ternity, and people of quality will re-
fuse to entertain 1t on any considera-
ton. Physicians of high standing de-
clare that good deal of evidence that
rheumatic fever is an infectious dis
ease has accumulated within the last
ten years, and while that theory is not
yet to be regarded as fully established,
it has apparently gained some ground
even this very spring. The Philadel-
phia Medical Journal refers to 1t as
the more generally accepted view"
to which the Tactic acid and nervous
origin explanations have given place
to some extent. One of the reasons
for suspecting that this disorder might
be infectious is that several cases will
often occur. in the same house, and it
is peculiarly prevalent in large COM
| munities. Again, it has been asserted
that the mortality and frequency of
rheumatic fever iuctuate in the same
| way as those of erysipelas and scarlet
fever. Now, infectious maladies are
all attributed to micro-organisms, and
as soon as suspicion was excited the
search began for bacteria which
should prove to be characteristic OF
the malady in question. One expert
hunted in the blood; another directed
his attention to the tonsils; third ex-
amined the synovial fluid, or lubricant
of the joints; fourth tested other
secretions, including exudations from
the heart. The first definite declara-
ton of a discovery was made in 1891,
when Bonchard and Charm believed
that they had found in the joint fluid
a certain well known organism hither-
to associated with suppuration. This
was the staphylococcus pyogenes al
bus. The presence of this microbe in
the joint would not prove much, con-
sidered by itself, but in 1893 St. Ger
main succeeded in producing an in
fammation of the joints by inoculat-
ing an animal with staphylococci. OF
course, a single instance would not
settle the question, but the experiment
was highly suggestive. to say the least.
Since that time several other investi-
gators have found microbes in the
blood or secretions. Sometimes these
organisms were identified as the
aureus" or citrus" instead of the
"albus," but they were staphylococci
Occasionally, however, another mi
crobe that is characteristic of pus, a
streptococcus, was found. The latest
investigations which bear on this sub
ject are those of Poynton and Paine
and are reported in the Lancet of May
4, 1901. The Philadelphia Medical
Journal summarizes them without
comment. These men assert that they
isolated diplococci in sixteen cases
Cultures were made of organisms
found in rheumatic nodules or swell
ings and were injected into the veins
of rabbits. In consequence the little
creatures had pain in the joints ant
inflammation of the valves and Gov
ering of the heart. The fluid in theil
joints and some of the brain tissue:
revealed the presence of the diplococci
Poynton and Paine think that tbs
nodules of rheumatism are a partieu
larly characteristic feature of that dis
ease. 1t will be observed that the re
suits of this latest inquiry differ from
those previously obtained. Strepto
cocci look like chains of beads of prac
ticslly uniform size. Staphylococct sug
gest rosaries, one organism longe
than the other occurring every 81
| often in the series. Diplococci ar,
, usually half round objects and com
in pairs. They sometimes look lik,
the halves of pea, slightly separated
The pneumonia germ is diplococcu
and is pointed on one side like raisil
! seed. But there are many other point
OF difference besides those of form
One takes a certain kind of stain whicl
, will not affect another One must b
> cultivated in a manner unlike that re
, qhired by another and so on. But tn
! most important distinction, of course
Is that between the effects produce
! on the human system when the latte
Is invaded. The other characteristic
gre important only as means of identi
fcation. 1t appears, then, that Poyn
ton and Paine do not attribute aeut
fnfiammatory rheumatism to the sam
organism as do their predecessors
Further study is essential, therefore
TO ascertain which of them is right
= More experiments are necessary t
: clear up several phases of the matter
The natural history of the newl
found diplocoecus should be full
worked out, so as to differentiate /
distinctly from all other microbes, an
II its responsibility for rheumatic feve
finally be established it will then b
highly desirable to try to make Al
> antitoxin that will have a curativ
n0Wer