Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1904-01-20
Our Tiniest Enemies. Their Cousins
Our Friend.
BY BLANCHE MADDOX

BY BLANCHE NJ ADDOCk
Bacteria are tiny plants; so tiny that
they are in milk that has been stand
ing "a hours, sometimes as many as
five hundred millions of bacteria to
the cubic inch. Thus we see the i'm
portance of this study is not because
of their size, but because of the rapid
ity with which they multiply. There is
no other family of plants which is able
to effect such wonderful changes as
this.
There are many species of these bac-
teria-some deadly, some injurious,
some bene fetal; diphtheria, typhoid fe-
YER, lock jaw, consumption and grippe
as we'll as many other lesser forms OF
disc ase are due to these bacterial Or
ganisms. They get access to the sys-
tenn and there find conditions suitable
to their development.
If the system is run down and weak
ened they find easy access and disease
is the result. If, on the other hand,
the system is strong it may be able to
resist their development. This shows
us how careful we should be in the
preparation of food and the sanitation
of our homes, in order to keep the
body healthy and strong.
Milk is one of the greatest disease
conveyors known. One reason for
this is that milk so readily absorbs
impur ties and then it forms so suita-
BILE medium for bacterial cultures
and growth. One of the too frequent
illustrations of this is of the milk man
who rinsed his cans with water from
an infected we'll and thus gave deadly
typhoid to 80 persons in one village.
SUITABLE CONDITIONS AND TEMPER
ATURES FOR BACTERIAL
GROWTH.
Germ life will develop most rapidly
under warm temperatures and in moist
impure atmospheres; and with disease
germs increase is most rapid away
from sunlight while it is almost i'm.
possible to destroy them with any de.
gree of frost.
We have seen diseases which have
been prevalent during he warm months
die out as the cold weather came on,
but how often have they broken GU,
with renewed vigor after January or
February thaw, providing the germ
has not been killed but merely kept in
check by the FROST In order to keen
our house clean and free from germs
OF disease it is necessary to look after
them from cellar to garnet.
While the care of the cellar and the
lower portions of the house is essen.
tia1, the care Of the sleeping room is
vital. Nothing has so great an effect
upon the health of a growing child as
the air which it breathes at night. 1t
is said that room 90 feet long, Is feet
wide and 10 feet high contains vital
lied air enough for one person one
hour. Not that one could not ex st
for a much longer time, but after the
first life is gone the dregs greatly de-
press the life of the persons breathing
it. What then OF the average sleeping
room of Minnesota for the eight or
nine hours during which it is occu-
pied? There is usually no provision
made for fresh ingress of air during
the night, nor is it often possible to
flush the room in the morning, food
ing it with pure air, on account of the
ill constructed storm sash and the mis-
taken economy that seeks to econo-
mize fuel at the expense of vigor in
human life.
Sunlight and fresh air should be ad-
mitted freely during the day. There
should be free current of air during
the night, not a draught. This may
be accomplished by raising the lower
sash during the night about four inch
es, then fitting a board beneath the
sash. The air rises between the over
tapping sashes, causing circulation
and no draught. When sickness has
been in the home extra precaution
should be taken, not, as is usual, to
more carefully exclude the air, but
rather to seek to admit it the Nc ore CO.
piously, as very often the hope of re-
covery is directly dependent upon the
stimulus of this fresh air. One must
also use great care during times OF
sickness that these germs do not cause
further mischief. These germs have
great tenacity of life. We have seen
that IL is impossible to destroy them
by freezing. In order to prove this,
an experiment was tried in the case OF
a cnnsurnntiYe natient Six months