The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1904-02-14
Study Of the Evil Bacteria
Is Fascinating to Doctors
A Pursuit That to the uniformed Layman Seems Uninvihns
Really Presents Many Attractions

that by artificial culture medium the sub
stance is prepared which contains the proper
material for bacteria TO thrive on and 10
multiply"
MEANS OF IDENTIFICATION.
To the question if bacteria could always be
identified by color. DR.. Ferguson replied:
NO; sometimes a physician can't tell by
the cOlOrs because there may be some that
are SO nearly OF the same hue that 10 dis
tinguish them would be impossible. When
this is the case the best way 10 identity
the bacteria IS by the way they grow 10
CCscrlDe The different cultural pecull2rltIes,
however. would be almost impossible be-
cause they are so numerous. Very often
there will be a difference in the way colo
MES of these germs grow. y colony OF
germs, you understand, means an accunu-
Iation OF bacteria due To multiplication.
The various conditions under which bac-
terra will live have to be closely watched
IL the cultivation of them Some bacteria
will not grow N the presence or oxygen,
while some will not grow without ii. Then
there are bacteria produced gas and some
acids
In speaking of the progress that has been
made in the study of bacteriology DR.. Fer
gusOn said:
In bacteriology we are learning all the
time and there is hardly a year goes by
that there are not a number of new dlscoV-
cries brought forth to the physician. An in
t%eresting thing about bacteria is the chem
ical products resulting from their growth.
Up TO within the past few years the FORM
and manner of growth occupied the largest
| part OF the attention OF DacterlOlOBlSIS, out
of late their attention has turned TO the
| chemical side of the question and some very
valuable m has been brought out.
I'm first place, of course. not all bacteria
are harmful; many varieties are absolutely
necessary IN the world. as by them all or
ganic matter, both animal and vegetable,
is after death reduced to its original ele-
ments, and II 1t were not for bacteria the
remains of plants and animals would en-
cumber the earth. If IL were not for bac-
terra vegetation would die out and every
! thing have the same appearance as things
in a cOld-storage house. The cold does not
allow the bacteria to grow and consequently
interesting thing that the fiavors of cheese
and butter products, together with those
OF vinegar, are all due to certain chem
1calS formed by these minute organisms.
so 1t is very readily seen that every
thing is covered with bacteria and that they
have their useful side as well as that of dis
ease and destruction. The average person
when he speaks of bacteria does so with
a shudder because he thinks of them in only
their worst form. The difference, however;
between the disease-producing bacteria and
the useful bacteria is due to the fact that
the hemica products of the former are
poisonous, as for instance, the symptoms of
typhoid fever, diphtheria and erysipelaS are
produced by the poisons or toxins, as they
are called, In bacteria, which are as dis
tinct to the practiced eye of the physician
as the symptoms produced by the vegetable
polsOnS of belladona, opium and aconlte.
1t is along the lines of specific poisons and
their effects upon health that the greatest
study has been done In the past few years.
The discovery of antitoxin in diphtheria is
the result of the study OF the chemical side
of bacteria"
AID IN DIAGNOSIS.
Dr.. ferguson was asked to explain how
bacteria aided the physician in diagnosing
a case.
I'm the laboratory" he said, 1.-THE student
is taught to identify the various bacteria
that produce disease. After he has fin
| ;sho1 eolooI y pooJor1 Dbx,S;o;an 6pdS that
the microscope is an Indispensable instru-
ment in diagnosing. Sometimes it is i'm
possible to make an early diagnosis in ty-
phoid fever and diphtheria without this
instrument, because the evidence of the
bacteria can be found before the
symptoms have fully developed. With
bacteria there is much to discover yet,
and there are some diseases due to micro
organisms whose cause has never been dis
covered. 1t is asserted and believed that
the specific causes of these diseases are so
small as to be invisible with the present
microscope. theoretically speaking, micro
scopes are as efficient as they may ever be
so far as the optical part of them is con-
cerned, and in all probability the cause of
these certain diseases will remain in OBJ
livion."
In the laboratory are small tubes con-
tanning bacteria of all kinds of diseases,
which, If they were opened, would inocu-
late the VlSltOr with enough diseases 10
make him a walking hospital, but, as they
are corked up perfectly tight, there is no
danger of contracting any disease. A young
physician picked up a tube containing the
bacteria of diphtheria and said:
IF the contents of this were let out into
the room there are enough bugs there TO
give one a sore throat for some time" He
then went on to talk of this dreaded dis
ease.
1.-THE chief points of interest in the dis
cussion of diphtheria," he said, center
around the early diagnosis and the treat
ment by serumtherapy. Every one admits
that there is one certain bacillus that is the
agent in all cases of this disease. There
are no questions that arise concerning the
repeated demonstrations of the diseased dis
and its toxins. Bacilli closely resembling
the diphtheria bacilli which are not the
cause of the disease are found in the throat,
nose and skin where the disease exists.
These bacilli do not stain, as do the Klebs-
Loeffier, which are the real diphtheria ba-
cilli.
This bacillus is a slender rod with club
bed extremities and slightly curved on itself.
There are three forms described and they
differ but little. The first and most COM
mon one is short and thick, with marked
dubbed The second is longer
and thicker, but maintains the club shape.
The third Is longer and thinner than the
first with slight cross bars which take the
stain deeply.
whether or not this difference in appear
ance has any significance in the course of
the disease is a question. Some hold that
the short bacilli give rise to the ordinary
type of the disease and that the larger
bacilli produce the milder attacks, while the
slender bacilli are responsible for the ma
lignant and fatal form of the disease. 1t
can be said, however, of diphtheria that ii
is one of the few diseases that the physician
practically has in his control; that the dag
nosls can positively and accurately be es-
tablished in every case and by the use of
antitoXin a doctor can save So per cent? of
all cases, and in private practice even a
much higher per cent. is obtainable. Anti
: toxin, however, should be given at the earli-
est possible moment, for 1t is not now
considered a medicine used as q last resort,
for its efficiency is no longer an experiment,
! but a well-established fact"