The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-05-19
rRYING ro scARE Us.

If there is ever a time when some Chicago professor is not prepared to give humanity a jolt we don't kno" 1t. Apparently they spend their lime matching up something new and dis- turbing to the balance of the woria' and one of the latest specimens has just given out what he thinks IS an important announcement to the world at large. It is nothing less than an assertion that we are indebted to the Egyptian mummies for the germ Of tuberculosis. This professor is re- ferred to as "a distinguished Egypt oiogist," which means. we presume, that he is we'll up on mummies ant other debris scattered about that an- cient civilization, so we are naturally expected to assume that he knows what he is talking about. Here Is part Of his statement:
 That the dlsinterred mummies germs in Egypt cannot be doubted. There are more tuberculosis germs in the almost inpalpable dust around a mummy case than in many cuspidors of eff1uvia.
 These germs live for thousands of years, as has easily been proved and the examination of the bodies. even the well-preserved ones, caused an epi- demic of consumption among the work men and scholars who first sxhumed the cases. It is also we'll known that the keepers of the mummy eases have been subject to the disease.
 in serious sense may be traced 10 the great importation of mummies and mummy eases at the time of the Napoleonic invasion of Egypt and nraa sns sisrt s1ge in he surope whence has spread all over the Western world Dead bodies may not seerete the sy asad sass place dse for the tubercuiar bacilli.
 The baeilll from the mummie,s ar are nndoubtedly of great age and II aris nSs that these aged baeilli are infinitely more deadly than those obtained from the sputum of live persons wno are infected.
 Now. 1t really seems to our intelii- gence that we are having enough to worry us these days. We have the trusts and the tariff, the Panama ca- nal and the railroad rate bill, the Con gress and Republican President and divers and various other things to make 1tle dHytnlHS put ohc ioiS S"Oss sN"e' Now here comes this Chicago fellow. name of Sorgnac. to assure us that if we buy mummies we are also buying several thousand billions of consump- tion microbes to torment us. It is al- together too much.
 However. all is not lost. for here comes another professor. not from Chi- cago, who virtually tells Sorgnae that he's an ass. praying on subject of which he knows nothing. Says he:
 The notion that the germs of tuber- culosis could have been carried to Eu- Egypt Is ridiculous. Yet a word os comment on 1t may not be out of place. There are at least half dozen con elusive reasons for rejecting the sug- gestion. One Is the absurdity of sup posing that bacilii could retain their ] vitality for centuries. Another is the impossibilitv of their escape from the tissue of the lungs of carefully em- baimed body, if they really resided there. It is a pity that the learned Psychologist who imposed this reckless ence in Chicago last week did not hrst l consult a bacteriologist In regard to | it's reasonableness.
 Now we feel deal better, for we are pretty sure that this last one knows | what he is talking about, and we sus- pect he can prove 1t. Bring on your mummies!