The Savannah morning news., 1903-06-25
BERRIES AND CREAM.
Nome of Microbes-Germs by the Bill
liOn-German observations.

Nome of Microbes-Germs by the Bill
liOn-Germnn observations.
From the New York Times.
With their gelatine plates. incubat-
ing muffles and microscopes the biolo-
gists are enabled 70 contribute more
than their share to the unhappiness of
mankind. 1t would seem as if a mo-
ton before one of the more sympa-
thetic justices of the Supreme Court
praying that they be enjoined and re-
strained from unnecessarily promul-
eating any more of their alleged dis
coveries should receive favorable con-
sideration There is also opportunity
for a movement for the protection of
microbes against the ruthless pur-
suit which seeks, if it does not menace,
their extermination. Its motto might
very we'll be a paraphrase of the lines
of Cowper:
That heart is hard by nature, and
unfit
For human fellowship. that is not
pleased
To see bacteria enjoying life.
Nor feels their happiness augment
it's own.
That the bacillus which finds itself
in a favorable environment enjoys life
in its own way and is happy is at
least a fair presumption. To what ex-
tent it is entitled to protection in ac-
complishing its function in nature is
perhaps rather a matter of sentiment
than of Judgment. A Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Bacteria
might at least be able to give US IN
time a good deal of comforting htera-
ture to offset that of an extremely
disouieting nature which emanates
from the meteorological laboratories.
For example, we learn through con-
sular sources that the Germans have
lately been at work in the compilation
of facts calculated to unsettle the faith
of the average man in the kindly
fruits of the earth. They are nndlng
that the skin of fruit as it reaches
market is covered with innumeraole
micro -organisms. Two hundred grams
(about half a pound) of the fruits
which enter most largely into summer
consumption have been found by
trustworthy methods of computation
to sustain upon their surfaces bacteria
in the following numbers: Huckleber-
ries, 100000 damson plums, 100000;
yellow plums, 100000; pears, 100000;
goooseberries 100000; stra wberries. 3
100000; raSpberries, 100000; grapes,
s. 600, 900; currants, II, 900 900; cherries,
IL, 900, 900. The degree of alarm which
these large figures may warrant doubt
less depends in great degree upon the
kinds of Heterogeneous which go to
make up these appalling totals. On
that point we are left to our own con-
ditions. The man who takes the trou-
BILE to count 10000 900 bacilli on half
pound of cherries has done all that
may reasonably be expected of him.
majority of the fruits above men
| toned are deemed most palatable when
| covered with sugar-which may be
said to pulsate with organic life-and
submerged in cream. Milk of average
quality has been found to contain 1868
milligrams of dirt and as many as
| II, 1917, 600 bacteria to the quart when
| fresh from the COW. After twenty-four
hours the number of bacteria has so
| increased that in a cubic centimeter
| ST., 100000 have been counted-or at
least guessed at. Cream is even richer
than milk in mieIpr organisms. Proba-
| bly, one line of column width is not
long enough to contain the figures
needed to represent the number of ba-
cilli in the least quantity of cream
which could be measured.