Sunday Washington globe., 1902-02-02

bottom This looks very much like baby
foot measure being constructed on that
principle.
The bone measurement of the left foot is
an interesting process. You step upon a
stand about a foot high with the bare left
foot, let the whole weight rest on the left
the length of which is then taken by large
instrument resembling the foot measure
used by shoemakers. In this position you
look like the herald Mercury, new lighted
on heaven-kissing hill" "
The third and small fingers Of the left
hand are then measured by the same instru-
ment that measured your ear, and the fore
arm and the hand are put within the one
that has just measured the foot. These
bone measurements are practically iufallible
because the osseous structure of man
reaches its full development at maturity.
In other words, your bones don't grow after
you are grown After this you are ex-
amined critically for scars, birth marks and
other peculiarities
That familiar wart which you inherited
from your ancestor who came over to Eng
land with William the Conquerer, or FROM
the one who came over to this country with
Kidd. the pirate, is duly noted upon the
records The knuckle-mark on the cheek
that was presented to you by Bill Sluggeri
that time you differed with him about the
game, is duly indexed also the scars caused
by falling out of trees and third-story win
dows when you we're venturesome kidding.
All these private and peculiar registers OF
personal history and derivation are placed
to your credit where they will do the most
good.
Gave healthful welcome to their ship.
wrecked guests. COMEDY Of Errors.
The FIRST consideration in this life is the
maintenance of health, without which the
millionaire is poorer than the sturdy beggar
In years agone prisons were pest houses,
having innumerable gates opening into the
other world, the widest being the Jail
fever" gate, and but few that opened to
mundane liberty. Before John Howard
wrought in the prisons Of Europe and for
years after he died victim of jail-fever in
Russia the health Of the prisoner was of no
concern to governments, If he died-well
he ought 70 have kept out Of prison--and
that was the end of it, But the spirit of
kindness has spread abroad and has entered
the prison, and the Ohio Penitentiary has
a well-appointed hospital, suitable to its
size aud the number of its inhabitants
Built on the ground plan of cross, It is
admirably accessible TO light and air, those
two remedial agents that have always been
ready and eager to enter the prison and
sick room as miuistering angels of health
but have been too often denied access by
stupid architects and cruel builders. The
hospital has FIVE wards in which COM
petent staff of nurses quietly attend to i'm
portant duties. The warden is a frequent
visitor to this temple of Hygeia; is fully in
I afsf Of
toward higher achievements in the science
Of healing, and is ready to cooperate with
the learned and accomplished medical staff
in charge, with whatever aid is within his
resources The first year was distinguished
by the addition of a new department, such
as medical research has rendered indis-
| pensable to the modern Galen. 1t is the
| department of bacteriolOgy, established
during the present administration. It is
/ difficult 10 over estimate the importance of
this step meteorological studies have
/ opened up a new world to the regard Of
science; a world so minute, yet so populous
so unobtrusive, yet so potential, that they
are like the eyes of the Great First Cause,
omnipresent. II seems as if the whole
world might drop all its other work and
study bacteriology and be an infinite gamer
by the labor for everything of concern to
life, health and prosperity seems to rest on
the backs of these tiny creatures, so small
that myriad of them find the widest free
dom in a drop of saliva; so lively and ener-
getic as to furnish us with an unappToach-
able type of activity. The old guides to
diagnosis such as pulse, temperature, APP
pearance of tongue and skin, by which
alone the physician had to guess at the dis
order, are not less valuable than formerly;
but frequently the warning in these symp-
toms comes too late to ward off the attack,
although it is of the greatest value even
then. But bacteria, bacilli or microbes, as
these inhnitesimal creatures are inter
changeably called are the best witnesses
/ possible in the Identification Of diseases.
| Their testimony is of the highest character;
/ practically infallible, Their very presence
announces the character of the disorder,
! and tine testimony of one is as reliable as
that Of a million AS the condition Of a
country may be known by the character
and customs of its inhabitants, so the terri
tory of a drop of liquid, or a speck of solid,
may be known by its bacterial population
when expanded to the eye by the micro
scope. Each Of the great diseases, such as
consumption, typhoid fever and pneumonia,
/ has it's own peculiar bacilli which are
presence of the typhoid bacillus before any
other reliable evidence is obtainable, and
enables the physician to treat it effectively
at the earliest stage-at a stage when he
would still be ignorant of the character of
the patients ailment, if bacteTiology and its
appliances were not at hand.
The department now has thorough
equipment for the examination of such
fluids and other substances as must be in
vestigated, chemically aud microscopically,
to discover bacilli-such rs urine and saliva.
Even the gods had to have mail service,
and Mercury, or Hermes, the god of speech,
traffic and theft was chosen postmaster
general with his Office in the air. He was
| probably the first man who misused the
mails but he was always very attentive to
the ladies and never misused them in any
way, always giving them just the sort Of
letters they wanted, even if he had to write
them himself. Probably no place on earth
sends and receives letters fraught with 80
much dramatic material, or of greater inn
port, than the Ohio Penitentiary, the most
pOpulous prison in Christendom; yet there