Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1905-11-20


Benefieent Bacteria.
1T Is serious thing to blast the
good name OF a family, or to unjustly
malign a character, but as a profes.
sion we stand arraigned today for that
very crime. For the past twenty years
we have been persistent in ferreting
out the cause of disease. in hunting
down the criminals and the mischief.
makers in the microscopical world and
when found. in speaking and writing
evil things about them. All OF this
has attracted the attention of the in.
telligent and reading laity, so that 1t
has come to pass the very name of bac
terra, germs, microbes, micro organ.
'isms or whatnot has become the very
synonym OF danger, disease and health
People boil their drinking water
and drive the air out of II, rendering
1t insipid; they boil their milk and
impair its digestibility all for the sake
of killing the germs; they have had
the wicked bacteria and their DEVILS
work dinned into their ears so inCes.
sanity by us physicians, that many
sensitive people live in constant
dread
Natures Seavengers.
THE subject of the benehcent bac.
terra Is so vast, in so many ways do
bacteria contribute to our well being,
that one scarcely knows where to par.
ItiCularlze, but attention may first be
called to their work as natures scav.
engers. It Is to be remembered that
no other form of organic life on earth,
either vegetable or animal, is so prev.
alent or universally distributed the
world over as are bacteria. We find
them everywhere, the dust Of the
street is ladened with them, they are
in the soil' and in the air, all bodies
OF water. the ocean, rivers, ponds,
lakes and reservoirs contain them al.
though ordinarily in an almost dor.
mant condition. Their enormous ca.
pacity for rapid growth and multiple.
cation Is held in check through want
of one or more of the very essential
conditions of their well being, among
which may be mentioned, food. moist.
ure. proper temperature, etc. Al
though regarded as belonging to the
vegetable kingdom, while plants gath
er their own food, so to speak, from
soil and air, and animals derive theirs
primarily from plant life, bacteria Diff
Z ,,1a tho hand and
animals on the other, in that they
must have their food ready made, or,
in other words, they must derive II
from the higher and more complex
compounds of animal and vegetable
formation. The instant life Is extinct
in an animal or plant the bacteria
stand ready to seize upon II as their
! legitimate prey. Here then, univer'
sally distributed in nature is a gigan'
tic power dormant but potential,
awaiting only an environment OF the
favorable conditions of food, moisture
and temperature to awaken II into the
liyeliest activity"
Tropical Medicine School
DT' Ia .. bOOulue was W nave Ttdu
paper, favoring a school OF tropical
medicine in this city, on the plan OF
such institutions in London and some
, other big cities. DR.. Goodhue was not
present and DR.. Cooper read a portion
of the paper. DR.. Goodhue declares
that many tropical and important dis
eases, of little or no interest to the
United States before the war with
Spain. have become intimately asso-
ciated with the nation. Exceptional
opportunities were offered in this Ter.
ritory, with its large representation Of
races. Doctors Sinclair, Cofer and
Goodhue were appointed a committee
to consider the proposition and report
at the next annual gathering.